Floodplain and Urban Growth

796 Words4 Pages
Is the use of flood plains inevitable in dealing with urban growth? Due to high demands for housing in certain areas, building on flood plains has become more common. A floodplain is part of a valley which floods regularly as a river bursts its banks. This has caused much disruption to many properties as flooding is becoming a regular occurrence in places such as Doncaster, Hull and Worcester. However the demand for affordable housing is still increasing, therefore building on floodplains is an obvious answer to this problem because they are cheap and have little agricultural value so the government are continuing to do so. Over five million people in the United Kingdom either live or work on a floodplain; this can be very problematic because many properties built on floodplains cannot be covered by insurance so personal belongings are at risk. An alternative solution in dealing with high demands for housing could be to build on brownfield sites. Brownfield sites, or derelict land are sites that have previously been built on, mainly for industrial purposes but are now not in use. Due to the history of these sites, many will be contaminated and pose threats to health and the environment. Furthermore, Brownfield sites are more expensive to develop than floodplains or Greenfield land because they usually require a lot of regeneration to get them up to standard. On the other hand, there are many benefits of building on Brownfield sites. In England, the government has said that sixty per cent of all new homes should now be built on Brownfield sites as they offer the opportunity to recycle used land, therefore protecting Greenfield sites and promoting sustainability. They also allow for the use of existing sewage systems and services such as transport. Building on Brownfield sites can also be beneficial for the environment due to cleaning up of contamination.
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