Flooding, Worsening climate and building on flood plains.

StriderX

StriderX

StriderX

Caporegime
Joined
18 Mar 2008
Posts
32,846
I think the Title explains it all really...Why do we continue to build on these plains?

Why don't Insurance companies put up prices for construction companies when they obviously build in degenerating areas...

I also think a parliamentary review on Flood defences should occur, especially considering such a dismal year its been.
 
StriderX said:
I think the Title explains it all really...Why do we continue to build on these plains?

Why don't Insurance companies put up prices for construction companies when they obviously build in degenerating areas...

I also think a parliamentary review on Flood defences should occur, especially considering such a dismal year its been.
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I wonder if local councils/Government turn a blind eye to potential flooding, in an effort to look like the house building heroes.
 
What really annoys me is how earlier in the year they were moaning about a drought! During the periods of high rainfall they need to make it flow away from where people live, and then store it for the periods of low rainfall (rather than pump it away into the sea!)

Though I feel sorry for the flooded people, saw some areas in Cornwall (Helston etc) that I know well :(.
 
Westyfield2 said:
What really annoys me is how earlier in the year they were moaning about a drought! During the periods of high rainfall they need to make it flow away from where people live, and then store it for the periods of low rainfall (rather than pump it away into the sea!)

Though I feel sorry for the flooded people, saw some areas in Cornwall (Helston etc) that I know well :(.
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Next you will be suggesting the water companies spend their profits!
 
If you're going to buy in a flood plain, don't moan when your house gets flooded.

It's going to be cheaper to buy, usually more scenic - but whether it's a 1/100yr or 1/1000yr flood zone, you should be prepared for being flooded.
 
OldCoals said:
It amazes me that developers are allowed to build on flood plains.
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Amazes me that such houses in terrace or 'townhouse' configuration, can't have the lower level as a utility room/garage, so the walls are bare concreete and the floor bare concrete, so when they flood, the mains comes into the upper part of that level, and electricity is disributed from there upwards, walls can be powerhosed down and out.

Some houses here are built in such fashion, and you'd have to flood by more than 3 metres to actually have to repalce anything in the property with exception of white goods that could not be moved in time.
 
I'm not awake enough for a decent comment but I really feel for those people who get flooded out it must be a complete nightmare.
 
Can you show me where all these new estates are that are being flooded because in my experience new estates have a lot of flood prevention and counter measures where as older stock has very little if not none.

Isn't London on a flood plain?
 
maccapacca said:
Can you show me where all these new estates are that are being flooded because in my experience new estates have a lot of flood prevention and counter measures where as older stock has very little if not none.

Isn't London on a flood plain?
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This.

Whenever I've done any housing which are in a flood risk area you have to submit a report with flood prevention measures. All the councils have a copy of the flood risk maps so no development should go ahead if they don't specify what measures they will take to reduce the risk of flooding.
 
kwerk said:
Don't people research this stuff when they are looking at houses?? Due diligence.
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Unless your renting I dont see how this happens (Never rented but guess they dont have to give out this type of information or the small letting agencys just dont say). Buying a house you have some many different type of searches done by your solictors to cover all these aspects. I would guess a lot of people take the risk thinking it wouldnt happen to them. My old flat was in a flood zone but it would have been being less then a half a mile from a river and the sea.

The main reason I can see developers buying these plains must be because of how much cheaper the land is. Government should step in but wont as most of the big developers buy to many of these plains and they would claim it would kill the industry which the government and councils are pushing for more affordable house!! MEH
 
***** Shocker warning *****

If the gov stopped every man and his dog moving to the UK, we would not need to build on flood plains.
 
eatcustard said:
***** Shocker warning *****

If the gov stopped every man and his dog moving to the UK, we would not need to build on flood plains.
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I think population growth generally has a bigger impact then imgration. Its a problem the world faces we are living longer with higher birth rates then death rates in most countries. Just look at the population of earth in the 1969 like 3 billion we have now broken the 7 billion mark in 40 years!!
 
kwerk said:
Don't people research this stuff when they are looking at houses?? Due diligence.
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See I thought part of the construction process over here would mean that firstly a local authority search would have to be carried out on the area before you even think about building on the land. That in turn should throw up all sorts of issues such as whether its a flood plain, any known mines etc etc

I then thought all house builders would have to have something such as NHBC certification for the properties they build (albeit I don't know for how long house builders have had to have this sort of thing but Wiki tells me NHBC have been around since 1936) so that they all have a warranty of sorts. These warranties/certificates I thought would be available along with details of the local authority search for anyone dealing on conveyancing so that they could look and advise their clients of the potential risk of moving into that property.

That said, I also would have thought that part of the planning process would mean that the construction companies/developers would have to enter something like a section 106 Agreement whereby they would covenant to build appropriate flood risk defences, especially on flood plains. So if the construction companies had done this and the defences had failed, surely the construction companies/developers if still solvent should be held liable for at least adjusting the flood defences.

Something is clearly going wrong somewhere, maybe they just misjudged/miscalculated the necessary flood risk defence requirements. That shouldn't be an excuse though.
 
Most developments will require Flood Risk and Drainage Assessments to be submitted before permission is granted.

Whether the assessments are accurate and the mitigation measures adequate is where the problems occur.
 
It's not the developers fault, it's not the builders fault, it's not the councils fault and it certainly isn't the governments fault. It is the fault of the buyer for not researching the area when they are spending hundreds of thousands to purchase a house.

You either knew it was a flood plain when you bought it and thus accepted the risk or didn't bother researching and so deserve the results for your idiocy.
 
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