Plus the demand and quote of houses to be built by the government there’s only river side building space left
My old man used to work for Essex Rivers Authority and after for a Water Authority. His responsibility was the scheduling of maintenance of all the rivers and watercourses within the relevant area. It involved the removal of potential and actual blockages (mainly trees that has fallen); dredging the river beds; rebuilding the natural banks which included the masonry river walls around the R. Blackwater. The dredged up silt and rotting vegetation was spread on fields which weren't flood plains. Dredging used to take place starting at the estuaries, working upstream so that dislodged silt was washed downstream by the improved faster flow towards the sea. The authority knew that the faster flowing water would keep the build up of silt to a minimum and it would get any potential flooding away without it spreading too far. This is because they had ensured the whole lengths of the rivers had been cleared and the water wasn't being transferred to any potential areas of flooding. He retired a few years before before the Environment Agency announced that rivers would no longer be dredged and he saw many of his old colleagues made redundant while the plant and machinery was sold off (at a loss). His comments on the lack of dredging were scathing and reckoned it wouldn't take very long before problems started to occur. A while before he died in 2008 he guessed that the rivers were probably somewhere between half and a third of their original capacities. He wouldn't be surprised to read the news these days.
I think you will find the Planning Departments send out consultations to various bodies, like Highways and the EA. The planners rely on what they are told by them. The blame should lie with the EA, because the records they rely on are years out of date.....ie: Once in a Hundred Years Floods. The EA haven't quite cottoned on to the fact that type of record has been broken about 10 times since it was made. By the way, it is raining again.
‘The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out policies to avoid inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding. This includes requiring new development to be floodresilient and resistant where appropriate. The NPPF defines tests that local planning authorities are expected to abide by in order to protect people and property. If the tests cannot be met, new development should not be permitted.’ ‘The Environment Agency has produced a Flood Map for Planning which has three zones of flooding and refers to the probability of the river and sea flooding but does not consider the presence of any defences.’ https://flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk/ ‘The zones and definitions are as follows: Zone 1 Low probability: Land having a less than 1 in 1,000 annual probability of river or sea flooding. Zone 2 Medium probability: Land having between a 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000 annual probability of river flooding; or land having between a 1 in 200 and 1 in 1,000 annual probability of sea flooding. Zone 3a High probability: Land having a 1 in 100 or greater annual probability of river flooding; or land having a 1 in 200 or greater annual probability of sea flooding. Zone 3b The Functional Floodplain: This zone comprises land where water has to flow or be stored in times of flood.’
