The proportion of homes in Hinckley and Bosworth is zero As many as one in six new homes built in a flood zone
AS many as one in six new homes in parts of Leicestershire have been built in flood risk areas.
Between 2015 and 2018, the most recent figures available, 17% of the new addresses in Oadby and Wigston were in National Flood Zone 3.
That is the highest risk category for flooding, reserved for areas where there is at least a one-in-a-hundred chance each year of flooding from rivers, or a one-in-twohundred chance of flooding from the sea.
It means there were around 68 new homes created in the flood zone between 2015 and 2018 – including new builds as well as existing buildings that have been converted into homes.
The 17% of new homes built in the flood zone in Oadby and Wigston was the highest proportion for any area in Leicestershire.
It was also up from no new homes created in the area between 2013 and 2015.
In Hinckley and Bosworth the proportion of homes built in a flood zone for 2013 to 2018 was zero which is the lowest rate in the county.
Leicester had the second highest proportion of new homes built in the flood zone in Leicestershire, at 8% between 2015 and 2018, up from 6%
2015.
Across England, one in 11 new homes created in 2017/18 alone were in Flood Zone 3, according to the figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
That’s around 20,887 homes. The proportion of new homes being created in the flood zone was down from 11% in 2016/17, but generally the proportion seems to be trending between 2013 and upwards – having from 7% in 2013/14.
Since figures began in 2013/14, there have been around 85,000 new homes created in Flood Zone 3.
The Environment Agency defines three different flood zones, according to risk.
Zone 1 is reserved for areas where there is a less than 0.1% chance of flooding in any given year, and development there is largely unrestricted.
Zone 2 is for places with a risen risk of between 0.1% and 1%, and developments there need to be risk-assessed, if alternative sites can’t be found.
Development is more tightly controlled still in Zone 3.
In Boston, Lincolnshire, 92% of new homes between 2015 and 2018 were in Flood Zone 3, the highest proportion in England, while the proportion stood at 88% in Hull, while it was 87% in East Lindsey, which is also in Lincolnshire.