The Guardian view on the rising risk from flooding: uninsurable buildings should focus minds on climate adaptation | Editorial

TThe bleak outlook facing the Worcestershire market town of Tenbury Wells due to increased flood risks is primarily a problem for residents. Following seven floods in four years and with plans for new flood defenses around the city abandoned after costs reached £30 million, the city council announced this month that three buildings it owns, including a theater and historic pumphouses, no longer have insurance. Independent retailers find themselves in a similar situation and so some are packing their bags. The number of empty properties is increasing.

Tenbury is at greater risk of flooding than most places, due to its low-lying position between the River Teme and the Kyre Creek. But the threat it faces is not unique and will become more common in the future. Last year, UK insurers paid out a record £585 million for weather-related damage to homes and property, after unusually severe storms caused flooding in several counties, with buildings left underwater in towns including Henley, Wellingborough and Tewkesbury.

Analysis by Aviva, the insurance company, found the number of properties at risk of flooding in England is expected to rise from 6.3 million to 8 million by the middle of this century. In some areas of south-east London and the towns of Boston and Skegness in Lincolnshire, 90% of homes are expected to be at risk.

Current spending on flood protection is below the annual total of £1.5 billion recommended by the National Infrastructure Commission. In last year’s budget, future plans were being reviewed, with the latest announcement focusing on the need to make it easier for councils in poorer areas to get funding. Natural flood management measures such as tree planting and wetlands will also be prioritized from next April. But with spending cuts as well as tax rises expected in November, experts on climate resilience and flooding must keep up the pressure on ministers to take the growing level of threat seriously.

The situation in Tenbury should help to change minds, particularly within the local Conservative party. Dame Harriett Baldwin, the Conservative MP who represents West Worcestershire, said she was furious that proposed defenses for the town had not been approved. But the bigger picture is that flood defenses nationwide are in an alarming state of disrepair after years of underinvestment. Rather than seeking to remedy this situation, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch now wants to repeal the Climate Change Act and abolish the expert committee which advises ministers on resilience and adaptation.

This is a right-wing import. In the US state of Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis removed references to climate change from state law, despite growing evidence of the growing threat from extreme weather. Homeowners insurance costs in the state rose 42% in 2023 and more than a dozen insurers left the industry following a series of disasters.

The insurance industry has long been recognized as a potential ally by those fighting for tougher emissions policies and other forms of climate risk reduction. Earlier this year, a leading insurer warned that without drastic emissions cuts, the threat of a “climate-induced credit crunch” and market paralysis would continue to grow. Tenbury’s uninsurable listed pump rooms can thus be seen as a canary in a coal mine, as well as a building whose loss – if floods eventually destroy it – will be felt by thousands.

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