As every school child knows there is a very good reason why flood plains are called flood plains. So news that a new estate in Ruthin built on a flood plain – the Glasdir estate had flooded despite residents being told the chance of flooding was less than 1 in a thousand years is disturbing. The industry depends on trust, incidents like this put this reputation at risk and do harm to everyone in the industry.
An inquiry has been announced, real questions now need to be asked of the Welsh Development Authority who actively promoted building on the land, Denbeighshire County Council who gave planning permission, the Environment Agency who presumably agreed the risk was negligible and the builders Taylor Woodrow who apparently gave reassurances to homeowners.
The obvious concern is that commercial pressures outweighed common sense. It is made all the worse in that this is a brand new housing estate with building work not yet finished. It suggests the lessons of Tewkesbury from 2007 have not been learnt. How depressing!
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