Flooding: "stop building houses on flood plains" ... ... ... "and find a balance between the needs of our wildlife, the threat of an increasingly wet climate and the requirement of food production."

The government is considering all options when it comes to trying to deal with flooding:
Futures Forum: Flooding: government inquiry into a joined up approach >>> slowing flood water, redirecting farming subsidies, living with nature and rewilding ... and planting a few trees

Meanwhile, across Devon, there are people struggling with the effects of flooding:
Heart-rending pictures and experiences of flooding in Feniton – again | East Devon Watch

And one of the main questions being asked is to what extent building housing in the wrong place is just making matters worse:
Dispute over Devon development 'causing' floods taken to Westminster | Western Morning News
3,000 Barnstaple homes could be at risk of flooding by 2115 | North Devon Journal

This is one of the conclusions in a recent letter to the Western Morning News.

But this piece considers many more options - including whether or not to blame sheep farmers, a point being made quite vociferously of late:
Futures Forum: Flooding: government inquiry into a joined up approach >>> slowing flood water, redirecting farming subsidies, living with nature and rewilding ... and planting a few trees

Here is the letter:

WMN Letters: Stop building houses on flood plains

By Western Morning News | Posted: January 12, 2016

I wholeheartedly agree with Anton Coaker regarding the incorrect blame put at the door of the hill farmers throughout the country.

A balance has to be found between the needs of our wildlife, the threat of an increasingly wet climate and the requirement of food production.

Over the last 20 years there has been a drop in sheep and cattle numbers on Dartmoor, especially now; years ago the grass cover would have been denuded and there would have been a lot less scrub, now there are large areas of gorse, the grass is greener and heather and other scrub vegetation is in the ascendancy.

Planting more trees in valleys is a benefit for not just the landscape and our human wellbeing but also because they will absorb CO2 and utilise large amounts of water from near streams and rivers. However, this would need to be on a massive scale to make any real difference, and would not be of any help when with the deluges of late, as they only take up water at a steady rate, and cannot increase their consumption when faced with flood situations. The trial introduction of beavers in the River Otter and North Devon is another ongoing possibility to aid with the slowing of flooding, but, it is not the whole answer.

More needs to be done to stop the building of houses in floodplain areas, or on productive farmland, and a countrywide campaign is needed to reduce the amount of hard landscaping in gardens etc all of which stops rainfall being able to drain into the ground.

by Diana Wynn, Honiton

WMN Letters: Stop building houses on flood plains | Western Morning News

See also:
Futures Forum: The role of trees and sheep in managing flood risk
Futures Forum: New habitats, old habitats

And:
Futures Forum: Flooding and building houses
Futures Forum: Flooding in the West Country... and climate change
Futures Forum: Long-term planning for flooding in the West Country
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