Future Flooding

The flood plain near me has permission for 3,000 homes!
They have built probably half of this and have made big lake/ponds everywhere.

There is an online map of the U.K. which tells you the areas likely to be affected by flooding due to Climate Change over the next 30 yrs or so.

This is as well as new builds but you can check online to see if a town or village you are wanting to buy in is at risk of flooding.

Our area is being inundated with new development and the water companies say they can cope with it but the reality is that they can't. Our surrounding seas are being polluted on a regular basis and we are no longer able to swim safely. My daughter's house has flow back up into her toilet and bath whenever it rains and no-one will take responsibility for it. She is not alone. People on her housing estate are complaining about it all the time. We do need more housing, we just have to plan so much better.

There has been a lot of building development on flood plains over recent years.
Not only does it mean houses etc may be liable to flooding in future, it also means that rainfall, overflowing rivers have nowhere for the water to ve absorbed.

These areas are not called flood plains for nothing - our ancestors were wiser than us!

www.lv.com/home-insurance/new-homes-in-flooding-areas

Residential development has been prohibited in my area for some time by the Environment Agency (for which read ‘the government’) because of the risk of pollution by sewage. Measures have to be taken by developers to prevent pollution before development is allowed.

Surface water flooding is of course another matter.

It’s very much up to developers looking to make a profit to ameliorate the effects of foul and surface water flooding and pollution, and the cost of necessary measures will of course be taken from the land price - which, rather than from the taxpayer, seems reasonable to me.

The Government are always pushing for easier planning permission have not mitigated against the risks when they could have done. I am related to someone who is heavily involved in presenting to Government the problems we are going to face with the rise of sea levels and has been for the last 15 years. Ministers nod their heads sagely and then carry on regardless. As my friend says, it isn't him who will have to worry because he will probably be long dead but the younger generations who will be living in properties that are just about to be washed away.

Urban, not or an!

Probably part of the SuDS, sustainable or an drainage system on newer housing sites J52.
www.netregs.org.uk/environmental-topics/water/sustainable-drainage-systems-suds/detention-basins-ponds-and-wetlands-in-sustainable-drainage-systems-suds/

The specifications for flood risks changed in 2022, they are now more stringent. I suspect the houses that are currently being built were given PP before 2022.
Some new developments have large ‘lake/ pond’ areas that presumably are to mitigate flooding by draining surface water.

DH has a client who is in a similar position to your friend.

The lenders only know as much as the solicitors tell them. Some solicitors are rather more diligent than others. And the planners would probably require some flood prevention measures to be taken, such as raising the ground level of the houses - might stop the house flooding but doesn’t stop the garden being ruined, possibly the car too.

Isn't it likely to come up on searches when the houses are bought? I'm surprised that people can get mortgages on them.

It isn’t the government which allows building, it’s the local planning authority. I had a developer client who wanted to build houses in an area with potential for flooding, planning permission was granted and he went ahead despite my warnings. The profit motive. That was just before I retired so I have no idea how easily the houses sold.

Might there be preventative measures planned over the next 30 years? It seems criminal to build knowing that the houses might flood, but if there is a dam or floodgates going in, it could make sense.