Searches - Significant Flood Risk

homeless9

Hi Guys,

One of the searches on the property I am in process of buying came back with a 'significant flood risk'.

There is a ditch which runs alongside a raised railway line. I believe the report is based on the pretty rare occasion in the UK that we have extreme rainfall. The property in question is not by a river / waterway. The ditch just acts as a run off area for the raised train line.

I have tried looking into any flood related reports from the council's planning website, but found nothing....

The report came back asking if I want to pay £120 for a more detailed report on the flood risk.

I am not sure exactly what to do. Who should I get advice from? should I just pay for the check? 

davidmcn

What have you found among the planning papers? Flooding isn't something the planners will have overlooked.

homeless9

davidmcn said:

What have you found among the planning papers? Flooding isn't something the planners will have overlooked.

Nothing. Do you know what the document may be titled?

davidmcn

Have you found the relevant planning application on the council website? I would expect it to include a report from the planning officer covering all the relevant matters, which would invariably consider flood risk - usually there'd be a report submitted by the developer, and comments from consultees. Or the planning permission itself may have conditions about flood risk.

homeless9

davidmcn said:

Have you found the relevant planning application on the council website? I would expect it to include a report from the planning officer covering all the relevant matters, which would invariably consider flood risk - usually there'd be a report submitted by the developer, and comments from consultees. Or the planning permission itself may have conditions about flood risk.

Yeah, this is a 'snapshot' of the document I believe you refer to, I do not see anything noted about potential flooding in this document, it only acknowledges the slope to the foot of the railway embankment......

Planning Application on behalf of _____ Limited. 14th May 2017

STATEMENT ON PLANNING ISSUES

Including design and access: a full Design and Access Statement is not required for this class of development.

Site description

The application site is within the built-up area of _____ and located on the north side of ______ Close, between the road and the railway embankment. The site is separated from the railway by mature trees, which fall outside the site boundary.

The site is virtually flat and featureless for most of its depth, sloping at the rear towards the foot of the railway embankment. It is grassed, and at the rear (railway) side is overgrown with bramble thicket.

pinkteapot

Have you looked at the Environment Agency flood maps? How is the property rated there?

homeless9

pinkteapot said:

Have you looked at the Environment Agency flood maps? How is the property rated there?

So yeah, nothing in the planning documents anywhere. They did noise assessments because of the railway lines, assessments of trees etc etc etc, nothing about flooding. Maybe there isn't anything to worry about? :S

there are no rivers/waterways, it's just a ditch where the garden is quite steep down to the base of the railway embankment.

I checked the Environment Agency flood map and again nothing......came back with......

FLOOD ZONE 1

Land and property in flood zone 1 have a low probability of flooding.

When you don’t need an assessment

You don’t need to do a flood risk assessment for a development that’s less than 1 ha in flood zone 1 unless it could be affected by sources of flooding other than rivers and the sea, for example surface water drains.

So I assume they don't think it could be affected by surface water drains?

The search that came back to my solicitor said Significant Surface Water risk.

Oh, i don't know. What do I do, just ignore it? Do I need to tell the insurance company that this report came back as significant.

OldMusicGuy

Have you tried this map: https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk/map ?
You can specifically search for sea/river flood risk, surface water flood risk and reservoir flooding. It's more detailed that the Planning Flood Risk map.

homeless9

OldMusicGuy said:

Have you tried this map: https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk/map ?
You can specifically search for sea/river flood risk, surface water flood risk and reservoir flooding. It's more detailed that the Planning Flood Risk map.

Thanks, this was useful.

Ok, what a gather from this is it's actually quite common for a property to have a medium to high surface flooding risk as there were many in the area which had flood markings on the map as well as mine.

I believe the developer would have put any necessary drainage into the development and there is a drainage search that is due to come back to me.

I am happy that the property should be ok from flooding, it's just if there is excessive rainfall over a number of days - then it may be a problem.

I guess I just need to let the company that is going to be providing me with housing insurance is aware of the search coming back as a 'significant surface water risk'   and therefore make sure I have insurance that covers flood damage ????

Thrugelmir

homeless9 said:

There is a ditch which runs alongside a raised railway line. I believe the report is based on the pretty rare occasion in the UK that we have extreme rainfall. The property in question is not by a river / waterway. The ditch just acts as a run off area for the raised train line.

Problems are caused when rainfall is heavy in a localised area. You don't have to live by a river to flood. Natural springs come out of all sort of places even hillsides. I'd approach the issue along the lines of maintenance of the ditch itself and what you could do to protect your own property. Should a once in a lifetime weather event ever occur. 

OldMusicGuy

FWIW we are buying a house and the first thing I look at when considering any property is that map. If anything other than very low risk comes up for any type of flooding, the house is eliminated from our search. Many of the recent floods have been surface-water related. Remember the Boscastle flood? That was due to surface water.

And those "rare" occurrences you talk about will become increasingly common due to climate change.