Boris Johnson accused of 'outrageous' lack of concern about floods

[Denzil_DC]

5. Meanwhile ...

Thousands of new homes planned in high-risk flood zones across England

Investigation raises concerns about the ability of the UK's environmental regulator to manage homebuilding as the climate changes
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By cross-referencing housebuilding plans in 10 flood-prone local authorities with the Environment Agency’s (EA) flood risk map, Unearthed has identified proposals to build 9,688 homes in high-risk areas.

Our investigation revealed:

* Across Lincolnshire, which currently has five flood warnings in place, 5,227 homes are planned in high-risk flood zones.
* The developments include Boston United Football Club’s new 5,000 seater stadium.
* In Sheffield and Doncaster, the two areas hit the hardest by recent flooding in England, hundreds of new-builds are planned in high-risk zones. In addition, 5,123 homes are planned for medium-risk areas, including a “new town” just over one mile from Fishlake, which has seen heavy flooding this week.
* Figures obtained from the EA show that in 2017-18 in almost half the cases where the agency objected to a planning application from a local authority, the EA did not know whether its advice was followed.
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Unearthed selected the 10 English councils with the highest percentage of high flood risk land using the EA’s map. We then plotted sites those councils listed in their five-year plans for housing supply. We also added Sheffield and Doncaster after recent flooding in those areas.

We identified sites in those 12 local authorities with the potential to deliver 9,688 homes, all in areas of high flood risk. The vast majority of these were located in the East Midlands, with a sizeable minority also planned for development in the Thames Valley. Two of those councils, City of London and Rochford, had no homes planned in high-risk zones.
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A total of 116 flood warnings were in place for England at the time of writing. Weather warnings are in place across the country and 20,000 troops are currently distributing sandbags in South Yorkshire.

https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2019/11/15/flooding-uk-boris-johnson-sheffield-yorkshire/