Housebuilders balk at flood defence bill

Following Monday's storms, Prescott said on Tuesday that he was pushing through planning guidance that will place the burden and cost of protecting a site from flooding on the shoulders of the developer. The guidance, PPG25, will also limit building on flood plains.

Weston Homes chairman and managing director Bob Weston said: "Are developers going to pay for the whole flooding of the UK? It is not clear in the guidance note what we have to pay for. Will we have to pay for all defence work along a river?"

Housebuilders are angry at being made the scapegoat for recent flood damage. They claimed the Environment Agency and local authorities were responsible for ensuring that sites allocated for development were safe from flooding, noting that developers already took measures to ensure excess water could drain away.

Alfred McAlpine Homes Group managing director Graeme McCallum said local authorities were obliged to consult the Environment Agency on managing water drainage: "Housebuilders and other developers will then carry out the development of allocated land and may well be asked to – and very often do – contribute to flood prevention measures, which should have been properly planned by the relevant government agencies."

His views were echoed by Robert Millar, managing director of Cala Homes South.

He said: "The onus for researching environmental risks to land and ensuring that adequate defences are in place for current and future residents' protection must be on the local planning authority and other statutory agencies."

Housebuilders already include some of the sustainable drainage measures proposed in the draft planning guidance, such as underground storage tanks that catch excessive rainfall and allow it to drain away slowly.

The DETR will publish PPG 25 at the end of the year, now that the consultation period has ended. Officials confirmed that it will call for developers to pay for protection measures when building on a flood plain.

The guidance, to be issued to planning authorities, will also impose curbs on construction on flood plains.

In his speech to parliament on Tuesday, Prescott said: "Our policy is clear. It is to discourage inappropriate development in flood risk areas. We intend to issue the final version of new guidance in December."