One in four new homes in Bury and Wyre at risk of flooding

A year on from the Boxing Day floods, research shows that between 5-23% of new houses in Lancashire, Cumbria and Salford are within a flood zone.

Geo-environmental consultant LK Group found that between 2013 and 2016 one in four new homes in Bury and Wyre were built in National Flood Zone Three areas, which are sites estimated to be at risk from one river flood every 100 years or one flood from the sea every 200 years.

The findings were based on the Government’s latest land change statistics and showed that one in 10 new homes in Lancaster, West Lancashire and South Lakeland were built in areas prone to flooding. Almost one in 10 new homes were built in areas threatened by flooding in Salford.

Mark Jones, associate director at Radcliffe-based The LK Group, said: “In the North West we need to have a grown-up conversation about the land on which we develop new homes.

“In England, approximately 10% of land is designated as being at risk of flooding. There are many sources of flood risk that should be considered with new developments including risks from rivers and the sea, overland flows from surface water and flooding from sewers and groundwater.”

In the Boxing Day floods of last year, more than 3,500 properties were flooded in England. Nearly 500 homes were flooded in Salford, and more than 60,000 properties in Cumbria and 42,000 houses across Lancashire, Morecambe, Rochdale and Carnforth were left without power.

The Environment Agency has committed to investing £2.3bn in flood defences in England by March 2021. Of this, 55% will be spent on inland flood management with the rest on protecting against coastal and erosional risk.

The North West will receive £48 per person of flood defence funding, whereas the South East will receive £161 per person.

The Environment Agency claims to be on target to protect 300,000 homes by 2021.

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