The government’s proposed relaxation of the planning regulations could lead to more homes being built in flood risk areas, according to the Association of British Insurers.
The draft National Planning Policy Framework may remove requirements on planners to ensure homes are not built on land that carries significant flood risk. Currently, there are over 1,000 pages of planning regulations, which are to be replaced with a paired-down version with just 52 pages, if the changes go ahead.
Several other influential organisations are also calling for the Framework to be scrapped, including the National Trust, the National Campaign to Protect Rural England and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes.
The campaigners claim that the proposals could lead to growth at any cost. Jonathan Dimbleby, the journalist and broadcaster, used to be the president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. He told the Daily Telegraph, “The word ‘business’ appears in the document about 300 times, while ‘countryside’ is mentioned four times. Once you have blighted the countryside, it’s done.”
Otto Thoresen, the ABI director general, told the newspaper, “Building developments in high flood risk areas will make flood insurance harder to access and, if available, more expensive.
“A property that cannot get insurance is likely to be uninhabitable and unsellable. This will put further pressure on Britain’s already high demand for housing, and hit the recovery of the house-building sector,” he added.
