Experts back tighter restrictions for building on flood-prone plains

Climate change experts have backed calls for tighter planning restrictions to prevent new building on flood plains after the worst national flooding crisis in a generation.

After a major study of city floods around the world, academics at University College Cork, the London School of Economics, and Oxford University found no evidence that cities, their economic hubs, or large population centres relocate after large floods.

Full economic activity has usually resumed in the flood-prone zones, usually within a year, they said.