Why build on a flood plain?

Surely even the most thick-skinned Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council officers and councillors must be squirming at the correlation of the headline front page articles of April 29 and (April 22 in the Halifax Courier.
By The Newsroom
Published 10th May 2016, 14:00 BST

Last week we had the boasting of ‘Business on the move to Copley Valley’; no mention of any of the 660 new jobs which CMBC claimed would be created in order to receive the £6.5 million grant for infrastructure from the now defunct Yorkshire Forward. It is so far one firm simply moving “with great help from CMBC” from Elland to new premises about to be built on a flood-plain in the Copley Valley.

To knowingly build on a flood -plain is to deliberately put people downstream at increased risk of flooding. The criticisms by the Calderdale Floods Commision of a Lead Local Flood Authority ought to shake them out of their complacency, because as Paul Cobbin (Chief Executive of the National Flood Forum) stated: “We were lucky not to suffer loss of lives”.

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I would like to think that the CMBC officers and local councillors who have actively encouraged building on flood-plains are embarrassed and ashamed of their actions, but realistically expect it to be like water off a duck`s back to them.

Steve Whipp

Copley Village

Related topics:Business