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England's Building Boom Risks Flooding Future
18 Feb
Summary
- One in nine new homes in England are on land at flood risk.
- The trend of building on flood plains has worsened recently.
- By 2050, one in seven recently built homes may face higher flood risks.
Between 2022 and 2024, one in nine new homes constructed in England have been built on land identified as being at medium or high risk of flooding. This amounts to 43,937 homes out of 396,602 built in that period, a concerning increase from eight percent of new homes in flood risk zones between 2013 and 2022. Areas like Boston and Skegness in Lincolnshire, and constituencies within Greater London and Essex, show particularly high proportions of new developments in hazardous locations.
Insurer Aviva warns that this trend is accelerating, with predictions suggesting that by 2050, one in seven new homes built recently will be at a higher risk of flooding. The analysis also indicates that new properties are more likely to face future flood risks than existing ones. Aviva advocates for a presumption against new developments in high-risk areas and mandatory flood resilience measures in building regulations.
The government has countered that these figures do not account for existing flood defenses and that £10.5 billion is being invested in flood projects. However, as climate change intensifies, concerns grow about more frequent and severe flooding events impacting coastal and riverine areas, as well as increased flash floods from intense rainfall.
