Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the eligibility of the Flood Re scheme to include properties built after 2009.

Current planning rules state that development in floodplains should be avoided where possible. Where development in a flood risk area is necessary, it should be made safe and appropriately flood resilient without increasing flood risk elsewhere.

Properties constructed since 2009 should therefore already be able to access insurance at affordable prices. Flood Re is designed to help existing properties at flood risk, built before 2009, who could not otherwise access affordable flood insurance.