12 COMMENT
housebuilding target could create pressure to build in areas at a high risk of fl ooding. She said: “We don’t want to be building today’s houses in places where they will become ever more at risk of fl ooding. Defra and the Ministry for Housing need to be working closer together to make sure our housing targets aren’t preventing what we know is needed to protect future and existing homes from future levels of fl ooding. However, effective fl ood prevention measures do not come cheap and it may already be too late or too expensive to build the fl ood protection needed to save some areas. oyd says some areas may have to be abandoned as it becomes too costly to protect houses and businesses. “I think particularly when money and resources are constrained, some of those very diffi cult decisions are going to have to be made by Government to make sure that the money that is available for fl ood prevention is having the most impact, but that is a very diffi cult political decision for our leaders to make, she said.
AREAS AT RISK Aviva’s analysis, which draws on the new homes address data and cross-references it with the Environment Agency’s latest assessment of fl ood risk at constituency level, found that Greater London and Essex have the highest proportion (32%) of new at-risk properties. incolnshire, East Yorkshire, the west and north-west follow at . The east of ngland has the lowest proportion of new at-risk homes at . In ngland, it found the total number of properties at risk from fl ooding was expected to increase by more than a uarter , from . million to 8 million, with the number of properties in high-risk areas for fl ash fl ooding, which are harder to predict and protect against, likely to increase by up to by mid-century.
What is clear is that it is no longer just housing in coastal areas or in the traditional fl oodplains that are at risk. In December, the Environment Agency estimated that by 2050 one in four properties across the whole country would be at risk from fl ooding. It is inevitable that a percentage of the homes being built now in 2026 are adding to the total number of homes already at risk of fl ooding. There is no sign that recently awarded planning permissions are being methodically re-checked for their fl ooding risks to ensure that housing developments are safe to proceed with, although this would seem a very pragmatic and sensible course of action to take.
Some parts of the UK are already at risk of being abandoned because of fl ood risk, with the occupants of a terrace in Ynysybwl, south Wales, having their
WWW.HBDONLINE.CO.UK © Ibrahim Rifath
homes bought by the local council due to constant fl ooding with the residents relocated. It is also claimed that the town of Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire is slowly being abandoned by its occupants as they cannot get fl ood insurance on their homes, offi ces and businesses. The town has suffered seven fl oods in the last four years, and plans for new fl ood defences around the town were abandoned after costs rose to m. Looking to the future, any prospective solution must surely include a closer alignment of policies on housebuilding and fl ood mitigation, while at the same time greatly increasing the money spent on fl ood defences, including nature friendly schemes like tree planting, attenuation ponds, and the creation of small dams and wetlands. This cannot simply mean putting pressure on developers to follow rules that will not function in practice. Instead, the Government must think about how to help local authorities source fl ood-risk data to speed up information-gathering for planning decisions, and how low- or medium-risk sites can be mitigated by developers to allow for building without compromising our obligations towards future residents, who want to own or rent a home without the fear of it fl ooding.
MORE REALISM NEEDED
A recent survey of public sector workers at the frontline of housing delivery has revealed deep pessimism about the Government’s ambition to deliver . million new homes by . ess than 1% of those surveyed believe the target can be achieved through current policy measures, with 60% saying the
availability of funding for housing projects is insuffi cient. and availability and developer expectations were identifi ed as the biggest barriers to delivering more homes, in the survey report and analysis from public sector procurement body, agabo. The survey sample is uite small, involving individuals from local authorities and housing associations, but the organisation says the report represents a sobering reality for the overnment. Jonathan Parker, Pagabo’s development director, said: “Our report includes fi ndings that suggest the overnment’s housebuilding target is more optimistic than realistic, but this is tinged with a clear appetite to be able to deliver more homes. Without a greater understanding of the views and challenges being faced around the country by those tasked with delivery, no changes can be made. Having these insights means that the Government and wider delivery collaborators can now come together to fi nd the solutions that breed confi dence and progress against local targets – not see them dwindle further. The report, uilding . illion Homes: Is It Achievable?’ claims the most critical factor holding back housing delivery is a lack of suffi cient, fl exible, and long-term funding. eanwhile, a trio of interconnected issues surrounding land cost, site availability and developer profi t expectations present widespread barriers to delivering more homes, with planning restrictions, community opposition, and infrastructure constraints also cited as obstacles to overcome. arker added The structure of traditional contracts involving land sales followed by developer delivery is widely seen as misaligned with public objectives – which is likely feeding that barrier cited around community opposition. This reinforces the need for a more collaborative delivery model in which the public sector and developers share responsibility from the outset to accelerate delivery and maximise public value – but also ensuring that communities are taken on that journey as well, in order to truly be involved in shaping their own futures. Combining this feedback with the
fl ooding data from Aviva shows just how diffi cult it will be to deliver the Government’s new homes target and a reassessment is surely required to ensure that properties are built in safe locations with long term futures. We cannot afford to be developing communities which are then abandoned due to a lack of insight of risks, investment in fl ood mitigation or the availability of insurance. eing safe from fl ooding should be an integral part of how we measure sustainability and give confi dence to existing and future residents.
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