Why is UK still building homes in flood-prone areas, that are only going to flood more frequently in future? And not building them to withstand floods?
Are other countries making similar silly decisions or are we particularly poor planners?!
I have been reading about houses build to withstand floods on stilts etc and there is plenty we could be doing to reduce the risk of damage.
There's plenty of planning policy and guidance on where and how to build new houses with respect to flood risk, although as touched upon upthread, the planning system has generally gotten more relaxed under the current government. Sometimes, houses are built in areas at risk of flooding for a good reason, such as to secure funding for a defence scheme to protect a wider area. Other times they're located in at-risk areas as it's the most practical site, due to availability of land, avoiding the green belt, etc. Generally though it should be avoided as much as possible. Design standards exist for new houses in flood prone areas but this depends on the house actually being built as designed.
There's a lot of innovative design going on in housing around flood risk, and while houses on stilts are one option, they tend to work better in other cultures where acceptance of flood conditions is greater (e.g. south east asia). While a house on stilts might not flood internally, the loss of services (sewerage, safe access, refuse collection) would make them unfavourable in the UK, certainly with the way we tend to deal with things at present.
Are there any particular resources you recommend for investigating how climate change will affect different areas of the UK and other countries?
For the UK, the Committee on Climate Change are a good source of info on our progress, and the Adaptation Committee periodically publish our main climate risks in the climate change risk assessment, which is pretty accessible www.theccc.org.uk/tackling-climate-change/preparing-for-climate-change/uk-climate-change-risk-assessment-2017/the-ccra-at-a-glance/ The Met Office website has some good info on climate and weather patterns as well as describing things that have already happened, but their resources can be a bit too technical for easy-reading.
At a global level, the IPCC reports give the best overview of what's going on, and they go into a tremendous amount of detail, so can be a bit tricky to read if you don't know what you're looking for. I would start with the headlines from the 5th assessment report www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/ and go from there if you're feeling brave!
How do you think climate change can stop being a political issue, left v right, which I imagine leads to many right wing voters not taking it seriously?
Excellent question. For me, climate change is a technical issue to be solved, and shouldn't be politicised or aligned to any ideology, although I can see why it's been lumped in with left-wing ideas because of links to consumerism, capitalism, etc. I also think there will need to be some fairly radical shifts in some of our behaviours, which doesn't sit comfortably with a right-voting electorate.
I don't know if the topic will ever be apolitical but it helps to consider the broader appeal - there are plenty of economic and social benefits that can be reaped in the short- to medium-term by switching to low-carbon or adaptive measures. And very importantly, don't repeat the mistakes of the current political left by branding anyone who doesn't immediately agree with you as stupid or evil....
That said, there is one upside to it being a "lefty" issue - young people tend to be more left-leaning and the message certainly seems to be hitting home with the next generation, who will hopefully carry that through to their working lives.