Halifax has called for a review of flood spending and prevention in 2002 to ensure that homeowners are better protected from the effects of climatic change.
The insurance division of Halifax has called for a review of flood spending and prevention in 2002 to ensure that homeowners are better protected from the effects of climatic change.
The company said the risk of flooding had increased dramatically since the UK government passed responsibility for flood compensation to the insurance industry in 1961.
It said the UK needed to up spending on flood defences, from around 0.03% of GDP, to match countries such as Japan, which has spent between 0.2% and 0.9% of GDP on flood defences since the war.
Halifax also called for centrally co-ordinated responsibility for flood warning, protection and funding, and the ring fencing of money allocated for flood defences, to prevent it being used for other purposes.
The company said five million people in two million properties and over 185,000 businesses were in flood risk areas in England and Wales.
It added that in Autumn 2000, over 10,000 properties suffered flood damage at a total cost of £1bn. The cost to the insurance industry was over £500m, with a 16% increase in claims costs over 1999.
