Flood risk: England ill-prepared for scale of challenge, warns planning charity

Leading housing and planning charity, the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has today warned that England is ill-prepared for the scale of challenge in tackling key social, economic and environmental issues, such as flood risk, which are integral to the country’s long term social and economic well being.

Responding to the findings from the Public Accounts Committee, the Environment Agency and insurance bodies on the warning that many home-owners may not be able to insure their homes later this year due to flood risk, Kate Henderson, TCPA Chief Executive said:

“There is an urgent need for a co-ordinated approach from national and local government, working with the private sector, to secure England’s future resilience to long term economic, environmental and social challenges, such as flood risk. While the funding for improving flood defences is imperative, we must also recognise the importance of planning and local authority cooperation in tackling challenges which operate above the local level. The economic and social impacts of leaving potentially 200,000 homes without flood risk insurance are untenable. At present, England is badly organised to deal with the scale of these challenges.”

“This is why the TCPA will be bringing together high level experts from across industries and sectors to form a ‘Reconstructing England’ inquiry exploring the mechanisms and radical structures needed to improve the nation’s capacity to face the future effectively and fairly, securing the long term economic and social well being of our communities.”

“Through EU projects such as the TCPA-led adaptation project (GRaBS), we must learn from our neighbours in Europe about strategic responses to the very real threat of climate change.”

The TCPA-led European Project, GRaBS (Green and Blue Space Adaptation for Urban Areas and Eco-towns) project website has a number of resources that can help local authorities plan for extreme weather, including a risk and vulnerability assessment toolkit. There are also case studies and examples of Area Action Plans (AAPs) which demonstrate at a practical level how local authorities in England, including the London Borough of Sutton and Southampton City Council, as well as across Europe, have planned a coordinated approach to tackling the increasing number of extreme weather events, such as flood risk.