Oral Answers to Questions

Alison Griffiths Excerpts

Monday 24th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern]

With Cornwall Labour Members of Parliament standing up for Cornwall in this House as they are, I feel assured that Cornwall will be in a much better place. I look forward to working with my hon. Friend to make sure that that is the case.

[Alison Griffiths (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) (Con)]

T9. Flooding costs the UK economy up to £6 billion a year. Aviva estimates that 2,000 more homes will be at risk of surface water flooding by 2050 in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton alone, as well as 115,000 of the Government’s planned 1.5 million new homes. That is why flood resilience is a growth issue. Will the Minister tell me what he is doing to ensure that new homes are flood resilient, to protect both my constituents and the UK economy?

[Matthew Pennycook]

As I made clear in answer to a previous question, strong protections in national planning policy mean that development that could be vulnerable to flooding should not be allowed in areas of high flood risk. Where local planning authorities have approved development in spite of initial objections—for example, from the Environment Agency—they will have had to ensure that the development would be safe through, for example, adequate mitigations.