The general election in the West Country: the issues >>> flooding

Planning authorities are happy to give permission to build on floodplains so it seems:
Nine tenths of England's floodplains not fit for purpose, study finds | Environment | The Guardian
Futures Forum: Sidford business park > Fords planning application >>> 16/0669/MOUT >>> further comment

With pressure from developers to make it happen:
Builders 'behind UK flooding risk' - BBC News
Cornwall Council receives detailed plans for 99 homes on Helston HX1 site (From This is The West Country)

This is despite pressure from high places to do something about it:
MPs demand sustainable drainage drive to curb flooding | The Planner

And what is being pushed more and more is 'sustainable flood management':
We need better flood defences and water management: NFU | Pig World

Here is a paper from Food & Farming Futures:

Nature-based flood management needs joined-up policy approach to manage benefits and trade-offs

Natural water-retention measures, which ‘keep the rain where it falls’, have great potential to be used as part of flood-risk management plans. But their benefits for downstream urban areas can bring costs to the upstream agricultural areas where they are installed. The researchers behind this analysis suggest that we need new and/or improved policies and institutions to oversee the trade-offs and benefits for agriculture and flood management, and a better scientific understanding of the measures’ likely impact on urban flood risk.
EC Science for Environment Policy

http://ofi.direct/1.17060332

Meanwhile, flooding has hardly featured on the general election campaign trail - simply because we've had such a dry spring:

How green are the manifestos? GE2017 and climate change

Sam Fankhauser and Sini Matikainen review what the manifestos of the Conservatives, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats contain on the environment. They argue that all three parties are committed to taking action, but there is a risk that climate change will be forgotten by a new government preoccupied with other issues.

The three parties make promises in two areas where past governments have been caught out: air pollution and flood defence. 

After a dry winter, flooding has temporarily disappeared from the headlines, but the need for more flood defences is noted by all three parties. Flooding is perhaps the most prominent climate risk Britain faces, but it is not the only one. The UK’s Climate Change Risk Assessment also highlights risks related to heat waves, water shortages, the natural environment and new pests and diseases. In addition to more flood investment, the next government must strengthen the national adaptation programme and communicate more clearly to businesses and households the risks that climate change will pose to them.

How green are the manifestos? GE2017 and climate change | British Politics and Policy at LSE

Perhaps the bad weather will temper passions:
General Election 2017: Rain to douse the UK as Britons head to the polls
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