Every year flooding affects communities around the UK. The Chartered Institute for Water and Environmental Management recently contended that although there has been expert agreement for many years about reforms, policy change has been slow. In part, this is due to the complex governance system within which flooding occurs. In this article, Professor Graham Haughton […]
Build in haste, repent at leisure? Post-pandemic planning at the precipice
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to discussions on what shape planning should take post-crisis. Here, Prof Iain White, Prof Graham Haughton, and Dr Nuno Pinto outline how current regulations have exacerbated difficulties for some people in lockdown, discuss how opportunistic developers or politicians may seek to hijack the policy responses, and suggest solutions to ensure […]
How modelling can become a debate-support tool, not just a decision-support tool
As many politicians around the world inform the public of their responses to the coronavirus outbreak, they frequently refer to the science on which their decisions are based. In this blog, Professor Graham Haughton, Dr Nuno Pinto and Professor Iain White explore the changing nature of how modelling tools are forming political and public debate. […]
Groundhog Day: Why the Government needs a new approach, to stop failing on flooding
The ferocious storms and heavy downpours at the end of 2015 contributed to one of the wettest months in the UK since records began. And with saturated soils and rain still falling in early 2016, the flood risk continues for many parts of the UK. Graham Haughton and Iain White argue that Government flood policy has […]
Beyond sandbags – how to defend your house from flooding
For much of the 20th century, faith has rested in bigger and better defences to hold back floodwaters. But repeated flooding has shown that large defences cannot, and should not, be the sole focus. The first, and for most people the only, tools in the box to protect homes have been the thousands of sandbags […]