Residents in the Calder Valley struggle through the floodwater on a protest walk (Photo: Lyndsey Ashton)

Thousands of homes are due to be built on Britain’s flood plains despite this month’s devastating storms.

Even in regions badly hit by Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis, councils are considering allowing construction in areas vulnerable to flooding, i has discovered.

In some areas, the proposed or approved plans amount to thousands of new homes in locations hit by severe flooding.

Calder Valley

Six hundred new homes are earmarked to be built in Greetland, a village in the Calder Valley, which repeatedly falls victim to floodwaters.

Resident Lyndsey Ashton told i neighbours have even canoed on the flood plain in recent years during high waters. Now the local council is considering whether to allow the homes to go ahead.

Ms Ashton, who is part of a campaign group fighting the plans, warned construction would be disastrous for the landscape, which acts as a holding pen for water during storms.

“We’ve had ducks swimming in the field in the floodwater, we’ve had residents canoeing on the land,” she told i. “To alter the land as it currently functions is really gambling with people’s lives.”

Calderdale Council said all sites with the potential to flood were rejected early in the process, and insisted no final decisions have been made on development yet.

Barratt Homes, told i development could reduce surface water flooding, and therefore actually curb the flood risk to the area.

“Any proposed development would not be built within high-flood risk areas identified by the Environment Agency,” a spokesperson added.

Mirfield

The campaigners say residents have canoed on the flood water in the past (Photo: Jenni Crystal)

In Mirfield in West Yorkshire, plans for 67 new homes to be developed on an ancient flood plain were approved earlier this month despite fierce opposition from residents. Just days later, the River Calder burst its banks and flooded the site.

Research suggests this is a problem nationwide. Late last year a Greenpeace investigation discovered almost 10,000 homes – and a football stadium – were planned in high-risk flood areas.

In Hereford, plans have been submitted for a 1,300-home development across an area the Environment Agency lists as a flood risk. The plans put houses close to flood-prone areas but include sustainable drainage and flood catchment areas to prevent damage, developer Bloor Homes told i. “The development can proceed without being subject to significant flood risk,” a spokesperson said.

Yet Lower Bullingham Lane, one of the key transport links for the proposed development, is prone to flooding, and was submerged again this week following Storm Dennis.

Firefighters rescue staff and residents from a care home in the village of Whitchurch on the banks of the River Wye (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty)

Robert Taffell, a councillor on Monmouth Town Council, is fighting to get a planning decision approving 60 new homes in the town reviewed in light of the “climate emergency”.

He told i that although the development plot itself hadn’t been submerged, it has been completely cut off this week by the floodwaters which hit the town.

Climate change will only increase the flood risk, he argued: “We believe the climate emergency puts that area firmly into a flood risk area.”

Taffell has appealed to the County Council for permission to revisit the 2017 planning decision that gave the green light to the scheme, and also hopes to raise the issue with the Welsh government. “They need to look at it and be absolutely sure the right decision has been made,” he said.

A better approach?

The Chairwoman of the Environment Agency, Emma Howard Boyd, said this week developers must avoid inappropriate development on flood plains.

The Housing Ministry is also clear that housing should be located in areas at least risk of flooding.

But some experts believe Britain won’t be able to hold back the floodwaters forever, and needs to find a new way to handle the flooding threat. Fiona Barbour is the flood lead for engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald. She told i some flood-prone communities in will need to learn to live with the water.

She argues councils should take a more “risk based approach” to allow development in flood-prone brownfield sites. Developers should design to keep the water out of houses, but not necessarily streets, she said. “You may have to accept the fact that there is water in the streets,” she said. “I think that is something that society is going to have to accept as the new norm.”