Insurance Companies Refuse to Insure Flood Risk Homes
A third of the new homes that the government wants to see by 2020 will be built on flood plains making them uninsurable and uninhabitable.
Hundreds of thousands of homes will be uninsurable unless stricter and more sensible controls are imposed upon planning. According to the Association of British Insurers, 13 major developments have already been passed despite advice and warnings by the Environment Agency and unless the government steps in we are going to be left with unsellable, uninsurable and uninhabitable houses.
The Environmental Agency was consulted on the new developments, as a government requirement, but planning permission was still given despite flood risks being highlighted. The Homesbuilders' Federation have hit back stating that they were not ignoring advice about flooding, but in fact they were building homes to meet the housing crisis. They were also quick to state that they were not doing this at the cost of the industry pointing out that they would not doing anything to affect the reputations of their members.
The Government have been accused of having an obsession of building in flood prone areas whilst the Government would argue, in their defence, that they have introduced the strongest planning rules ever to ensure that councils properly manage the risk of flooding to their constituencies.
It has also been discussed that the decision on where new homes should be built should be passed to local communities and not 'unelected Whitehall bureaucrats'. The argument continues with Government saying that the local councils have the power to say yes or no to planning permission and so that debate 'rains' on and the real issue still remains for those who own or buy property on flood plains.
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