The other week the heads of the big companies sat round the table with the PM and Ministers for clear-the-air talks. Cameron, Patterson, Smith and Pickles were clear in their claims that the problems were being taken seriously and that funding was available - those claims are now being challenged. The insurers were equally bullish about their efforts to assess claims and make payments, but they were offering no guarantees about future premium costs or cover without further work being done on flood prevention and defence.
Now the boss of the country's largest insurer, Legal and General, has said
"We've had a housing policy that has encouraged too much building in flood plains area. And we've been on and on about this.
There's an issue in the UK. We're not building enough and where we're building them is in the wrong place. The Government needs to focus much more attention on housing supply and where that supply is."
I bet that has a few developers twitching.
I wonder how long it will be before the industry comes out and says that it will not insure new builds on flood plains; and that it will only insure existing properties once the owners have carried out a minimum level of flood-proofing at their own expense, or the waterways in those areas are properly maintained?
