To build or not to build?

The effects of Storm Desmond and the shocking flooding it brought are likely to shape the look and feel of Carlisle and Cumbria for decades to come.

Developers and housebuilders are rethinking future plans.

The Carlisle Local Plan sets out a vision for how the city will develop up to 2030, as well as reviewing the city council’s planning policies.

The blueprint outlines growth in the number of homes and businesses, how infrastructure will progress, help attract investment and protect and promote environmental and heritage assets.

It predicts that at least 565 homes will need to be built every year – around 9,000 by 2030.

Wayne McKnight, a partner in the Carlisle firm of McKnight & Son Builders is aiming to help meet that demand – but he is worried about submitting any new building plans.

He says: “I have an application ready to go to build in Denton Holme and I’m frightened to put the application in.

“It could cost me hundreds of thousands of pounds if the Environment Agency decided to raise the level at which houses can be built.”

He believes developers will wait until the EA completes its technical report on the floods with any changes to its flood map and for local planning authorities to respond.

“There is going to have to be some serious thought about it,” he cautions.

“They are not going to raise the flood banks to protect Carlisle – how high would they make it?”

Jane Meek, the city council’s director of economic development, doesn’t believe the floods have changed those plans.

A Government inspector is due to resume scrutiny of the Local Plan at the end of this month.

“The sites we have allocated to business and property development over the coming years have not flooded, which is a positive,” she says.

“We have looked at everything and feel our plan is robust.”

The officer warns that businesses and homeowners should not take it for granted that flood defences will protect them from any situation.

“We are keen to have development, but it must be the right development in the right situation,” she says.

“As planners, we are always very aware that even though there might be flood defences, we advise people to take certain steps to make sure their property is resilient to flooding.

“We would advise developers that they might wish to design developments to be more sustainable, whether using
energy or flood defences, but the decision is theirs, we can only advise.”

Allerdale Council leader Alan Smith says his authority has no plans to change planning guidelines in the wake of the floods, though he says they should be reviewed.

Large areas of Allerdale are low-lying and Cockermouth remains a major flood concern.

A controversial new development by Story Homes of more than 300 homes at Strawberry How has been granted permission.

The scheme is close to Tom Rudd Beck which is a main tributary of the river Cocker and has raised concerns over flooding and drainage.

Mr Smith says: “We need to have a strategic plan for the future.

“You can only build defences so high.

“We are going to have to have a complete rethink about what type of dwelling we put where.

“That has to come from the Government, but we have got to start looking differently at this.”

Mr Smith says he has asked to represent Allerdale on the Cumbria Flood Partnership being established by Floods Minister and Penrith and the Border MP Rory Stewart, but has yet to hear anything.

“I’m waiting to be invited to any meetings so I can explain what our resilience was like,” he says.

“It was better than in 2009, but I don’t want to go through this in another four or five years’ time.”

A statement from Carlisle-story based Homes made shortly after Storm Desmond hit said the company had been “very careful to avoid exacerbating the known flood risks in the town”.

The company said it would incorporate measures to “ensure that no new home is at risk from flood waters on this site, and none of the existing homes downstream of this site will be affected by our development”.

“Subsequent to this, detailed flood defence consents have been applied for and approved by the Environment Agency.”

In a separate statement on the company’s overall strategy, a Story Homes spokesman said: “All of Story Homes developments adhere to the necessary Environment Agency requirements as part of the planning process. Our sites are purposively selected outside of flood risk areas.”

Lord Roger Liddle, Wigton’s representative on Cumbria County Council, has demanded that local planners rethink approvals given to housing schemes in light of the devastation caused by Storm Desmond.

He says: “My view is that this should be a review of all outstanding planning permissions and planning policy across the county.

“We have to start thinking strategically about the problems of flooding,” he continued.

“Building defences around the towns that don’t work sufficiently well is not good enough.”

Lord Liddle says he will write to the Government, as well as to Mr Stewart directly, to voice his concerns. He also intends to raise the general question of planing policy in the House of Lords.

Mr McKnight predicts people will be more unlikely than ever to move into a flood risk area.

He says: “Properties that have flooded have lost 20 per cent of their value.

“I have properties in Corporation Road and I would expect them to have lost 30 per cent of their value after being flooded twice in 10 years.

“Once is fine, but twice is pushing it...”

Whether that attitude has a knock-on effect with companies that may be considering moving to Cumbria remains to be seen.

National media coverage of the floods over the Christmas period gave the impression that the whole of Cumbria was under water.

Jane Meek says: “At one point, you would think that the whole of the north of England was underwater.

“But we are open for business and have plenty of opportunities for businesses to invest in Carlisle and Cumbria.”