Waltham Forest is planning to build up to 11,000 new homes in medium to high-risk flood areas despite concerns over the new development.
The council has set a target of building 27,000 new homes by 2035. In its Local Plan document, almost half of those sites will be placed in areas at risk of flooding, assistant director of place and design Sarah Parsons said on Wednesday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.
Some of the sites will be located along the Lea River valley at Bywaters Leyton, Leyton Mills Retail Park, New Spitalfields Market and Blackhorse Lane.
Despite the plan, Government inspectors previously raised concerns on whether the target of 27,000 homes was “deliverable”.
The council has argued that it needs to ramp up its building in order to meet its target but said it would do so in a managed and mitigated way.
Within the council’s approach, it promises to use funds from the sale of developments in the area to build mitigation measures such as drainage systems and floodwater storage.
Waltham Forest Civic Society member Robert Gay claimed the council study of flood zones was “not detailed” and accused the borough of downplaying the risk.
One Lea Bridge resident, Claire Weiss has written to inspectors to warn that the Dagenham Brook near her home is at full capacity two to three times a year and further protection is needed.
This comes after Sadiq Khan has been warned to ensure £1billion investment in flood prevention or thousands of homes across the capital face being devastated.
A report from the London Assembly Environment Committee said the Mayor must improve the capital’s sustainable drainage system (SuDS).
In tandem with the fund, committee members issued crucial recommendations for the Mayor to take up in order to help protect the estimated 200,000 properties at risk of flooding after the capital saw severe flash floods in 2021.
Such was the torrential rainfall that the Met Office found Kensington, Westminster and Hammersmith saw 80mm of rainfall on July 12, 2021.
That figure accounted for 170 per cent of the average rainfall for July and due to this, nine Tube stations were closed.
Councillor Ahsan Khan, deputy leader for Waltham Forest Council and cabinet member for housing and regeneration told the Standard: “Waltham Forest’s housing target is based on the needs of residents.
“We’ve worked hard on the Local Plan to address all those needs. Development is the solution to the flood risks that these areas currently face.
“These are sites with no existing flood mitigation with high levels of surface water runoff – developments give us the opportunity to change this with Sustainable Urban Drainage and more flood storage, reducing surface water runoff by 95 per cent. Inspectors understood this, and we have the full support of the Environment Agency.”
