Rising concern over flood risk insurance (From Daily Echo)

Rising concern over flood risk insurance

3:35pm Thursday 26th January 2012 in Readers' Letters

A RESIDENT in Eling called me recently.

She was very concerned that the Environment Agency have designated where she lives as “at risk of flooding”.

She told me that she fears she won't be able to get insurance cover for the flood risk in the future and this could have implications for her mortgage and the resale value of her property.

I tried to reassure her as best I could. In fact, there is an agreement in place between the Government and the insurance industry whereby insurers will provide cover for homes at risk, at least until 2013.

Central government has been looking at options for the future and a new announcement is expected in the spring.

There are apparently tensions between the Government and insurance companies because less money has been spent on flood defences than had been anticipated and the Government takes the view that it would sooner spend what little money there is available on preventative works than it would supporting a fund for victims should the worst happen.

It used to be said that homes in Eling were at significant risk of flooding once every 200 years.

However, climate change seems to have increased the risk.

My own view is that it would be better for taxpayers’ money to be spent on prevention. Already this week, I have been on to the Environment Agency asking them to check cracks appearing in nearby flood defences.

Insurers should continue to offer insurance to homeowners in high risk zones but with special conditions attached. It might be some insurers will exclude the risk of flood damage altogether, while others might offer policies with a very large excess relating to flood risk only.

This is not something to worry about excessively. Even if climate change has doubled the risk of flooding for some homes, it still means we might expect a major flood incident to occur once every 100 years.

With insurance companies able to collect premiums every year there isn’t a flood, there should be enough available in the pot to pay out for claims when the water rises.

Councillor David Harrison, Hampshire county councillor for Totton South and Marchwood