The map shows which buildings are vulnerable to flooding and will prompt fears that owners and builders will be unable to get insurance cover in future years. Green Party Assembly member, Jenny Jones said:
“Global warming is already a reality for people living as far apart as the disappearing islands of the pacific and the melting tundra of the arctic, but now it will hit thousands of property owners in this country. This will be a headache for John Prescott and Ken Livingstone, who are planning to build a further 91,000 new houses in the Thames Gateway area mainly on flood-plain land.”
The Environment Agency has previously warned that “protection of all areas in the Thames Gateway irrespective of cost will become increasingly untenable with rising sea levels.”
It has also emerged that the Thames Barrier has been used 55 times in the last five years, compared with only 12 times in the previous five years. It was closed 3 times in the first year of use and 20 times last year, much of this was to do with high winter rainfalls, which is the predicted pattern of climate change in Britain. If the River Thames breached London’s defences it could cause damage costing £30bn
Jenny Jones added:
“Hundreds of thousands of homes are already at risk in London, so why are we pushing ahead with building even more homes in the worst possible place? It is important to realise what flooding really means. It means problems getting insurance for your house, but also can mean deaths and injury. In 1953, 300 people died on the east coast through storm surge. This kind of disaster will happen more often with climate change combined with land tilting in south east England.”
ENDS