Flood plain home insurance warning

Tougher planning controls are needed or some may find it hard to get home insurance for their new properties, one industry body has warned.

Justin Jacobs, the Association of British Insurers' assistant director of property, said: Insurers want to continue to provide flood cover, but poor planning decisions will lead to more homes becoming unsaleable, uninsurable and uninhabitable.

He added that in the last year 13 major housing developments had been given the go ahead despite the fact that the Environment Agency had warned they were to be built in areas at risk of flooding, meaning that home insurance on the properties could be difficult to obtain.

Mr Jacobs' comments were welcomed by home insurance providers Royal Bank of Scotland . It said the government's plans to increase provision of affordable housing could be hit if people could not get home insurance on properties as they had been built in flood-prone areas.