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Building homes in flood plains

A case of damned if you do, damned if you don't perhaps...

If we all agree that there is a need to build more homes, where are we to build them if flood plains are out of the question? Brownfields? Areas of outstanding beauty?

Or can we do something to avoid or at least mitigate future floodings? Perhaps there should be a ban on concreting over the front garden... Aparently it makes a big difference.

As nobody in power seems to have the answer, I put the issue forward to the wisdom of this board ;)
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't think there's a necessity to build on a flood plain, especially when you consider you normally only need to build about 5 miles away from a river to not be in it anymore.
    Make planned, leafy towns (not like Milton Keynes), well spaced out just outside the cities, decent transport links, decent drainage e.t.c and the problems won't be so bad.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you dont build on flood plains then we are really reducing the amount of space for building, Downing Street is on a flood plain for example.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    if I remember right about one third of England available building land is in theoretical flood plains...

    You do probably have to build in them - the best you can do is avoid the worst bits and perhaps take some further measures (eg don't concrete over back gardens, make sure you have plans ready to implement if the banks do burst etc)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    A case of damned if you do, damned if you don't perhaps...

    If we all agree that there is a need to build more homes, where are we to build them if flood plains are out of the question?

    Here's your solution :thumb:

    20_3.gif
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I was just about to suggest building houses that are raised a couple of feet off the ground! That's what they do when houses are built on the sea or river front so that if there is a high tide or the river bursts it's banks then it's not too badly affected by it.

    If houses are likely to flood, is there anything that can be done inside them to help prevent/lessen the damage of water? Example the King's Arms in York is pretty much waterproof downstairs and the plug sockets are high up, because York floods if you so much as sneeze and the King's Arms is always the first thing to go!
  • littlemissylittlemissy Posts: 9,972 Supreme Poster
    It's not just building in flood plains that is the problem though. A big part of the recent floods in Sheffield was the fact that drainage is shocking. One part of the city that I need to drive through to get to work was closed due to flooding and the reason wasn't the rivers but the drainage.

    Better drainage systems would also make a difference.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    On the news they showed the storm drains, and they were built about 100 years ago so it's not really suprising that they couldn't cope with all the water.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sheffield has a huge problem because the city is built on top of the river, and it's common across many cities. Bradford is built directly above a river, and Newcastle's built above several tributaries of the Tyne.

    Combine it with a drainage and sewerage system designed over 100 years ago, and you get problems.

    The whole flood plain doesn't need to be undeveloped, but leaving more room for wetland barriers would be a good start. It'd also be a fairly good idea to replace the hedgerows and trees farmers have spent a century destroying; they slow the flow of water, and prevent flash-flooding.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    On the news they showed the storm drains, and they were built about 100 years ago so it's not really suprising that they couldn't cope with all the water.

    Just cos something is old doesn't mean the NEW version will be better - go to brand new towns like Milton Keynes and you'll see the roads in the housing development are well narrow, so narrow that you can't park two car on each side of the road as car won't be able to drive through the middle .. whenever I visit my friend I have to park half up on the pavements - the only reason I can think why the roads are so narrow is some private developer decided to save money on the cost of building a wider road.

    Newer isn't better then old UNLESS there is enough laws and regulations to say it should be better. If you go into the brand new Jubilee line extension which is new compared to the 100 year old rest of the system you won't even find a seat to sit on at the platform.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Having no concrete gardens would definatly be a start if they have to be built on the plains. There needs to be plenty of grass and vegetation around so as much rain as possible can be absorbed. Heres to you hydrological system... or something. If it is true that Yvette Cooper really justified the building of homes on flood plains by stating Romans did it i think Mark Steel sums it up well in todays Independent.
    Mark Steel wrote:
    Maybe this really is a new period of government with no PR spin, because no one concerned with their image would announce building 20,000 houses on flood plains in the middle of the country's worst-ever floods.

    And the housing minister, Yvette Cooper, tried to justify this by saying that York was a fine place to build houses because "The Romans built it on a flood plain". We can't take advice on this issue off the Romans - they built a city at the bottom of Mount Vesuvius and look what happened to that.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well why not use the flood plains for something much more exciting and useful.....like the olympics :D

    it'll be fine for the swimmers
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    DG wrote: »
    Just cos something is old doesn't mean the NEW version will be better - go to brand new towns like Milton Keynes and you'll see the roads in the housing development are well narrow, so narrow that you can't park two car on each side of the road as car won't be able to drive through the middle .. whenever I visit my friend I have to park half up on the pavements - the only reason I can think why the roads are so narrow is some private developer decided to save money on the cost of building a wider road.

    Newer isn't better then old UNLESS there is enough laws and regulations to say it should be better. If you go into the brand new Jubilee line extension which is new compared to the 100 year old rest of the system you won't even find a seat to sit on at the platform.
    I was thinking mainly that there are more people now than when the drains were built and so they are having to cope with more than they were designed for. Is that making any sense? It did in my head I promise!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I was thinking mainly that there are more people now than when the drains were built and so they are having to cope with more than they were designed for. Is that making any sense? It did in my head I promise!

    Yes it makes sense.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    DG wrote: »
    Just cos something is old doesn't mean the NEW version will be better

    Yeah, but the sewerage system in Milton Keynes, etc, has been designed for the number of houses it is supporing. The sewerage system in most older cities isn't.

    Houses were built narrowly because people didn't have cars in the 1950s to the extent they do now. Most council estates have narrow roads for the same reason, and our road is only wider because the council took the grassed areas at the front away to build a road (so we have no front garden).
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