Will Common Sense Finally Prevail?

[youngmafbog]

http://news.sky.com/story/1221580/building-homes-on-flood-plains-to-be-blocked

I have never understood why we insist on building on flood plains, apart from it makes developers lives easy as it tens to be flat and it usually provides a nice riverside setting for the gullible that purchase the property.

Personally I think they should be banned full stop.

[andy-hughes]

The clue is in the name isn't it?

Madness!

[jackthehat]

Any development on Flood Plains needs to be designed to take account of the likelihood of flooding........unfortunately, at present, it isn't addressed robustly enough. It needs a bit of joined up thinking and inter-departmental cooperation at Governmental level.

[jim360]

On the other hand, where better to appreciate the true beauty of a river than in the middle of it?

[ludwig]

There shouldn't be a problem as long as they build them either on stilts or designed to float, like the dutch do.
Anything else is pretty stupid.

[jno]

it hasn't really been all that mad: until quite recently floods were pretty rare, even on flood plains. There's no point in berating people for where they built homes 30 years ago before the climate started to go postal. But now that people are living there, and flooding is becoming common, the government does need to work out some strategy to deal with it - prevention being better than cure.

[youngmafbog]

jno, it was complacency. Flood plains can flood at any time (for some reason that is why they are called that), they may not flood again for some time but that does not mean you start building on them.

The wise man built his house upon the rock .... etc

[ludwig]

As andy-hughes says, the clue's in the name - 'flood plain'.

Developers should never have been allowed to build anything other than flood-proof houses on flood plains.

Here's another tip - avoid buying a house on the side of a dormant volcano.

[Canary42]

Providing you've got potential buyers, why not build where you like - it's their choice.


Caveat Emptor

[ludwig]

// Providing you've got potential buyers, why not build where you like - it's their choice. //

Because it's not fair for businesses to take advantage of stupid people.
Actually that's not fair, you don't have to be stupid. It'd be reasonable to assume that planning permission wouldn't have been given to a project that is situated in an inherently unsafe place.