Will the Environment Agency miss its deadline on the flood risk map?
Property underwriters are concerned that the Environment Agency (EA) will miss its end-of-year deadline to provide an accurate flood risk map of Britain.
The flood risk map is a vital component of the insurance industry deal to continue providing property cover for areas at risk of flooding. This was laid out in the ABI's statement of principles that comes into effect on 1 January 2003 - just five weeks away.
Under the agreement, underwriters will provide cover for properties in areas where flood defences are adequate, consider providing cover in areas where flood defences are planned by 2007 and will refuse cover for other flood risk areas.
But in order to honour the agreement, insurers need flood risk data, which is to due to be supplied by the EA.
Data supply
One leading insurer suggested that there was "no way" the EA would be ready in time. "The issue is that the statement of principles has to be adopted by 1 January and relies on the information made available," he said.
Norwich Union technical underwriting manager Arthur Philip said: "Insurers are depending on the EA to supply flood data to the industry. We need the data to honour the agreement."
EA head of flood risk Gary Lane acknowledged that the time constraints were "tight", but said that by the end of the year, there would be "sufficient detail" for most insurers to make assessments.
He said: "My slight concern is that different insurers will have different views about the data that we will need to discuss. But we will have something to enable us to move forward by the end of December and discussions will follow." He said the EA would be the "custodians of robust data".
Philip said he was worried about the quality of available data insurers needed to operate.
"We need to know the proper risk of flooding," he said. "If we use a broad class of data with not enough detail, our concern is we will use data that will penalise people who are not at risk at all."
Philip said insurers needed information about where flood defences would be in the future. The statement of principles says ABI members would continue to provide cover to existing policyholders in areas where defences would be improved to an agreed standard by 2007. It also states that, in areas where no improvements in defences are planned, insurers cannot guarantee to provide cover in all cases.
Website woes
Lane affirmed that the EA was in constant talks with the Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) and with insurers. It was working with them to create a successful content and presentation of data.
An esure spokesman said he was concerned by the method the EA would use to publish the data. He said flood maps did not show future flood defences and removable ones, as in Bewdley.
"We need to look at all the different elements, as maps alone are not good enough," he said, pointing out that existing flood defences also degraded and this needed to be acknowledged. He suggested that if the EA had a website, every insurer could log in and rerate cover more easily.
"Now it is hit and miss," he said.
Lane said the EA was planning to have the data on the internet by the end of next year, but that, for January next year, the data would be illustrated by flood maps.
"We are working with insurers and Defra to create the first generation of maps," he said.
"These will be available by the end of the year and will indicate high, medium and low risk areas. We will also aim to refine them through sensible dialogue and this will result in a map on the internet by the end of next year.
"Those maps will be derived from work done with insurers, so there will be no contradictions with insurers' own maps."
The demountable defence goes into the flood front line along the Severn
The Environment Agency (EA) last week tested a new weapon in the battle against flooding - the first removable flood defence in Bewdley, Worcestershire. The multi-million pound defence is 180m long and it has taken over a year to complete the building work along the Severnside north bank.
When a flood is forecast, demountable barriers will be erected along the quayside. The posts are bolted on to permanent steel base-plates level with the paving and barriers are slotted into the posts. When river levels are within normal limits, the base-plates are the only visible sign of the flood defence.
An EA spokeswoman said the need to preserve the beauty of Bewdley riverside was one of the factors that led to the decision to use demountable barriers.
Bewdley was hit by its worst floods in more than 50 years in November 2000. Bewdley and Shrewsbury are the first places in the UK to benefit from this type of flood defence.
A esure spokesman lauded the barrier as "a major innovation in flood defences in the UK".
Last week's demonstration - Exercise Atlas - was premised on a simulated flood event. The barriers remained overnight and were dismantled the following morning and returned to storage.
Area flood defence manager Peter May said: "The demountable barriers have proved very successful in Europe, but they are new to us in Britain."
