The storm gathering over Britain's flood defences Today, floods are far more devastating events for homeowners. And a major contribution to their increasing frequency was the sweeping and, in retrospect, foolhardy relaxation of planning controls in the 1980s, which saw great swaths of low-lying land, often next to rivers, carpeted with poorly constructed housing. "We simply didn't build on flood plains before the 1980s," Aslet says. Everything was much more strictly regulated before then. Take Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, the icon of the 2007 floods, with its medieval abbey standing proud of the waters. It is no stranger to inundation - but what is different now is that the flood plains of the rivers Avon and Severn are home to thousands of dwellings. "Flood plains used to be for flooding in the old days," explains farmer and journalist Robin Page. But water authorities have dug out river and stream beds, which has increased the run-off when it does rain. They have created flooding by getting water off the ground too quickly. Larger areas of development and areas of concrete on flood plains mean the run-off can't seep into the land, and that increases the volume of water as well. In addition, farmers no longer receive grants for digging ditches to drain agricultural land (although they are still paid to keep fields as washland, upstream of any potential flooding). Yet we cannot simply blame ignorant policy makers and greedy developers - humanity's wider impact on the atmosphere is also playing a role. While it is impossible to ascribe any single weather event to climate change, most of the models suggest that in our part of the world, future rainfall will tend to come in more concentrated bursts, particularly in the summer, even though the overall amount will be much the same. "What we are seeing is more energy intensity in our weather," explains Phil Rothwell, head of flooding strategy at the Environment Agency. Sudden, intense periods of rainfall - as seen in recent days - are hard to protect against. The problem is not (just) rivers bursting their banks, but, as Page points out, run-off water inundating the land and filling all available channels. While farmers and residents in places like the Somerset Levels, the Severn Valley and the Fens are well used to flooding, this summer's intense rainfall saturated the ground, causing a dramatic knock-on effect when the autumn and winter rains arrived. According to Hamish Hall, director of the engineering consultancy WSP, the increased flood risk means we face a "ripe tide of negative equity" among British householders in affected areas. "The very fabric of our future society is based on the understanding that the houses we live in have a lasting value," he adds. Dr Tim Evan, an environmental consultant, accuses the Government of not acting fast enough over many years, and calls for a comprehensive rethink in how we design our towns and cities. The problem with modern drainage systems is that when they fail, the results can be catastrophic. The Environment Agency defends its record on flood defence, pointing out that reducing the risk to zero is impossible. Barriers designed to withstand a flood of the kind expected once in 100 years will be overwhelmed by a more significant deluge. Occasionally, as happened in Kempsey, Worcestershire, this weekend, the technology simply fails. In the end, it boils down to cost. Currently, Britain spends more than £400 million a year on flood defences. Since 2007, a new strategy has been in place which includes a new Flood Forecasting Centre run by a joint Met Office and Environment Agency team. "We predicted this flood 24 hours in advance," says Rothwell, "and since 2007 we have protected 150,000 more homes from flooding. This weekend, 23,000 homes did not flood that would have flooded prior to five years ago. He adds that more than a million people now receive flood warnings by text or phone thanks to the new alert service. Certainly, flood defences have been greatly improved in recent years, with investment in projects such as a £17 million scheme at Banbury, a £45 million series of dykes and other defences in Nottingham, and a major scheme at Upton on Severn. The question is, will all this be enough? Drainage is not a glamorous topic; memories are short and until disaster strikes, dealing with excess water is low on the political agenda (Britain's flood defence budget was actually cut slightly after the Coalition came to power, less than three years after the 2007 deluges). While the nation's defences are the responsibility of the Environment Agency, local drainage is usually the concern of private water companies, which have to put their shareholders first, and local authorities, who may not have the cash or political will to act. Since the 1970s, tens of thousands of houses have been built where they shouldn't have been. Once-soggy meadowland is covered in concrete and asphalt; the population has increased dramatically; and to cap it all, rain is coming in tropical-style bursts rather than the steady drizzle we are used to. With pessimism among scientists that climate change will be kept to manageable levels this century, that £400 million bill for flood defences will either have to rise a great deal in years to come, or we are going to face the prospect of soggy misery on an annual basis.