Flood zones might have to be abandoned, says environment chief

FLOOD-PRONE communities may have to be abandoned and residents moved elsewhere, the head of the Environment Agency will say today.

Sir James Bevan will also say building on floodplains should only happen if there is “no real alternative”, after the Environment Secretary yesterday said it was necessary to ensure the expansion of towns and cities. Sir James will tell the World Water Tech Innovation Summit in London that the climate emergency will make flooding more of a risk.

He will say: “It means accepting the hard truth that in a few places, the scale of coastal erosion and the risk of flooding from rivers or the sea will become so big that it may be better for communities to choose to relocate out of harm’s way.” Another wet weekend has resulted in serious flooding from swollen rivers. Rainfall is expected to continue hitting areas along the Severn, Wye, Ouse and Trent, while two severe danger-to-life flood warnings were issued for Ironbridge and Shrewsbury in Shropshire, both along the Severn.

The body of a teenage boy was found in the Wear in County Durham yesterday following a search for a missing 13-year-old. The head of the EA will also tell the summit that properties at risk should be “flood-resilient, for example with garages on the ground floor and the people higher up”.

George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, yesterday said: “An outright ban on building on all floodplains would prevent the expansion of the majority of our lowland towns and cities.”

More than 11,000 homes are planned for current flood plains, according to reports. Hugh Ellis, policy director of the Town and Country Planning Agency, said it would take decades to move communities at risk, and warned that it was impossible to know how many more homes were planned for high-risk areas in the future.

He said: “We’re struggling with climate impacts as they are now – but you haven’t seen anything yet. We don’t have a government prioritising that and giving resources to dealing with it. This requires the re-engineering of a nation.”

Hannah Cloke, Professor of Hydrology at the University of Reading, said that flood risk should come to be seen like earthquake risk zones in other countries and that housebuyers needed to be better informed of the risk.

She said: “It’s very difficult to imagine you’re at risk of flooding, if you haven’t seen a flood before.”