Safe Speed Forums

anyone living around the south midlands are chronically aware of the flood damage, i see on the news that the government will continue to build on flood plains, if this is the case they must insist on the house builders modifying the plans of these new houses to incorporate garages at the ground level rather than being detached


on a lighter note, the police have asked motorists to speed up on the M5 as they are rubbernecking the flooded fields and causing congestion

i loved the aeriel shot they showed on the news tonight........ acres of fields covered in water with just the hedgerows visible..... and the line of the river indicated by larger trees winding their way down what would have been the banks.

now lets think, what are these fields covered in water?

could they be part of the flood plain ?.... and they flooded.... hmmmmm

Yes indeed, and how long have these; "flood plains" existed?..

Well, before the motor car and the 4X4 that's for sure......


I just looked at the rainfall radar site.........it looks like the Northern coast of France and SE England are getting it tonight..

The clue's in the name... FLOOD plain...

I did have quite an interesting chat with my mum last night though (she works in construction). Apparently the planning authority is on 2 levels. The higher level consists of the experts who understand useful things like don't build on floodplains, and the lower level is basically layman councillers who don't have a clue. The uppper tier writes reports which include things like don't build on floodplains, but the lower tier is under no obligation to heed the advice. So in effect we have layman councillers making decisions about things they don't understand.

Now, where have we seen that before...?

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

I was struck by the pictures last night of a small housing estate, which was supposed to be protected from flooding by a wall - and the water had come over the top!

If a river overflows it's banks, it's because it needs to. Putting a wall up to stop it simply channels the water down stream to the next place where it can leave it's banks, and some other place gets it worse, because they get the water which should have flowed over higher up!

Maybe geology and geography should be taught in schools the old fashioned way, instead of the silly nonsense our kids get taught now, then we will have a generation who know better than to interfere with natures mechanisms.

The top of a hill never floods - the water flows downhill to the bottom!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

From the TV reports of people whose houses have flooded, I would say that 90% of them were pretty new estates (<20 years old). Does this tell you anything?

There is a new estate near where I work called Fishlake Meadows. This should give prospective purchasers a bit of a clue.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

One on tv last night called 'The Watermeadow'!

Oh but its NICE to live by the pretty river...

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

I've always wondered why we need more space for housing. Wouldn't it be better if existing houses (obviously the unoccupied ones) were turned into flats? Then we wouldn't need to keep looking at more countryside/flood plains to build on.

And of course I agree with everyone above - that flood plains are, funnily enough, prone to flooding

How long do you suppose it will be before certain clauses appear in the small print of peoples Insurance policies ?

And no one will be any the wiser ..... until.........

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The Box said "Windows XP or better" ... So I installed Ubuntu

The stupid thing is, (certainly when we moved) we were offered flood search by the solicitors. From memory it was only something like an extra £70 or so.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

See if you are in danger from sea level rise here!
Just type in the rise, and see if you go under!!!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

@ Ernest Marsh

heh... Kewl link.

Where I am in Peterborough the sea used to come up to Whittlesey anyway , pre that dutch guy that built all the drains !!

+7 metres reveals Whittlesey will once again return to its original name of "WhittleSEA

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The Box said "Windows XP or better" ... So I installed Ubuntu

For where I live, at the current rate of rise of sea level (which oddly enough more or less matches the pre-industrial rate of 120m in 10,000 years), it looks like I'll be needing your in just 400 years (+5m rise) - if that's OK.

I was suprised how long it took before I started hearing global warming being blamed. Was beginning to think they'd missed their usual trick there.

I found gordon brown pretty offensive on the telly the other night. "we all" have lessons to learn do we? I know people who were protesting the building in the now famous Tewkesbury 10 years ago, contacting the planning, enviromental and heritage people. (some of the building was on protected historic sites as well as flood plains.) The only response they had was from the heritage people who confirmed it was not allowed to build on the land, but they went ahead and built anyway.

What lesson do I need to learn from this then gordon? That your building control people are all corrupt or stupid? we already know that.

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Fear is a weapon of mass distraction

i can see a parallel argument against building more roads here

Wouldn't work in high density housing areas as there just isn't the space for building the flats and providing the parking.

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Prepare to be Judged

what i mean is....... why do we need more roads? wouldn't it be better if existing roads/transport was improved.

[Doc Emmet Brown]

ROADS .....?

[/Doc Emmet Brown]

This is 2007 right ?

WHERE'S MY ANTIGRAV CAR

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The Box said "Windows XP or better" ... So I installed Ubuntu

Your welcome! Of course you would be welcome to come and pitch a tent in my garden... we are at the top of a hill!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!