Bristol council has identified the Avonmouth area as being at risk from flooding – after earmarking it for massive development in its structure plan.
In response to the Government’s revised draft PPG 25: Development and Flood Risk, a council executive report stated: “The most serious risks are from coastal inundation in the Avonmouth area. If current defences were to be breached, flooding would be rapid and affect a large area, with the likelihood of chemical contamination being spread by floodwater.”
Although the council supports the draft document, it has called for additional Government measures to cover “sites important for the achievement of regeneration objectives and where there are already high development costs involved”. It says that unless this is forthcoming, “brownfield sites will remain undeveloped and regeneration objective opportunities unachieved”.
The council also believes that the guidance note on promoting building designs better able to resist flooding could be exploited by developers, allowing them to win consent in flood-risk areas on the basis that their buildings were better able to cope with flooding.
EGi News 11/04/01
