Part of 2. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 2:08 pm on 24 May 2017.
I acknowledge the work that was done in Ynys Forgan, really. That’s about 300 homes that were protected there. Yet, in recent years, we’ve also seen new building on sites on seemingly low-level ground close to the river. Conversely, in my previous work, I recall having to repeatedly explain to lenders that, while their environmental searches revealed that properties were being built in floodplain areas, it wasn’t the case—they were usually several metres higher than the environmental floodplain risk maps revealed, and it would’ve taken a tsunami, actually, to have taken most of them out. How often are these floodplain plans reassessed? I ask not just because desktop studies can often miss local geography, if you like, but also because overdevelopment in a particular area can affect the water table and water run-off, and that’s particularly important in places like Swansea, where we’re looking at 20,000 new homes, as well as the associated infrastructure.