We are saved > Thousands of new homes to be built on England’s floodplains #Spalding ft.com/content/5480cd… via @financialtimes
@FinancialTimes Lincolnshire absolutely leading on this
@FinancialTimes 92% of homes completed 2015 to 2018 at highest risk
@FinancialTimes credit to Camilla Hodgson for explaining the *deep* context; rough summary: we're without any regional plan
@FinancialTimes expect this to continue [on the plus side, no need for deregulation, it's already happened by default] so we sink below the waterline chanting "growth"
@FinancialTimes with no higher ground to fall back upon in south Lincs, it might be worth rehearsing combination of expensive flood defences and sacrificial zoning to squeeze out an extra inhabited generation, but who would lead such an urgent debate?
@FinancialTimes need a follow up focusing on specific new estates and plans in Boston or Spalding to show how it works at sea level
@FinancialTimes worth repeating that mindboggling stat: 92% of homes completed between 2015 and 2018 here were in highest flood risk zones
@FinancialTimes to recap 1) public money for housing Help to Buy deliberately funnelled to least needful groups 2) the houses built were often shoddy Persimmon, the bonuses outlandish 3) flood risk no obstacle, seems to have been a magnet! 4) future housebuilding plans focus on flood risk sites
@FinancialTimes perfectly rational to covet high flood risk sites, they tend to be flat and adjoin exiting services; your problem in mainly-flat eastern districts is that you need regional planning [none at present] to mandate alternatives, as the FT article itself makes clear
@FinancialTimes existing not exiting, that's a bit too apocalyptic for now
