Building on Flood Plains

 

We should not do it, unless we are sure the houses won’t get flooded.

We really have to create new towns inland in safe places to cure our housing shortage. Do Milton Keynes, Stevenage, Washington and Harlow get flooded? No! Because they were planned properly.

Unfortunately groups like the Council for the Fossilisation of England will protest and the Nimbys will have a field day.

But the question is do we want good, energy efficient housing for all or good views for the middle classes.

And of course if we built enough houses in the right places, then prices would stabilise and might even fall. That is a complete no-no!

As an aside, I own and live on a farm but I’m no Nimby. There are masses of places in the countryside where small amounts of infill can be done tastefully. For a start, some of the dreadful 1950s council houses on large gardens could be bulldozed and replaced with something modern and much more energy efficient at a higher density.