Prioritise Barnstaple town centre homes over ‘hypothetical’ flood risk, says councillor
North Devon Council could do more to help create up to 100 homes above high street shops rather than worry about possible future flood risks, a councillor has claimed
Future flooding risks to Barnstaple High Street should not outweigh the potential to create up to 100 small homes above shops right now, claims a North Devon councillor.
The town centre is expected to face an increasing risk of flooding in the future due to climate change, according to the Environment Agency and it is making North Devon Council planners nervous.
But the council’s lead member for housing, Councillor Graham Bell, says the desperate need for more homes should take priority and the authority should take action.
He says there are around 100 first and second floors above commercial properties which could be repurposed or renovated in the High Street.
Cllr Bell said: “Some of them are flats which are out of use, office or storage space but many shops don’t have the need for storage that they once did. Barnstaple has so much to offer but we could be doing more by repurposing these spaces and making it vibrant whilst helping the housing crisis.”
The council is concerned about entrance and exits of flats being flooded at ground floor level and the safety of residents. Any flooding event could involve potential evacuations and the need for the council to provide emergency accommodation.
A fifth of Barnstaple’s built up area along the River Taw including the low lying town centre falls into Flood Zone 3 (a one in 100 or greater chance of river flooding). It is also susceptible to flash flooding and during a storm in August 2020, 46 commercial properties were flooded.
Cllr Bell said he still believed the greater risk was people not having a home and floors above ground level were not likely to be affected. There are currently more than 1,400 households in housing need in North Devon.
He said: “One-bed homes are particularly in demand and these could easily be accommodated in the High Street.
“There are people in our district who have no way of storing food or making a proper life for themselves because they don’t have a permanent home. It’s really important we deal with that problem now rather than thinking about some hypothetical problem that can be solved in the future.
“We have had two storms in the last month and no floods in the High Street.”
He said conversions like this were more attractive to developers who shied away from building one bed homes and could make commercial premises at street level more viable.
He added: “They also prevent more development on green fields. As a council we have just managed to create our first social homes in 25 years with the beautiful Boutport Street refurbishment but the main High Street is looking a bit depressing.”
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “Whilst Barnstaple currently benefits from a good standard of flood protection, sea level rises associated with climate change mean that parts of the town centre are expected to face an increasing risk of flooding in the future.
“We are working closely with partners to develop options for managing future flood risk.”
North Devon Council said it was in “continued discussions with the Environment Agency to understand the approach to flood risk in Barnstaple town centre.”
In a statement it said: “We want to be able to support the continued regeneration of our town and particularly the conversion of existing buildings, whilst ensuring any development and its occupants can remain safe over its lifetime. These conversations are ongoing.”
In a response to Cllr Bell’s post on Facebook recently where he highlighted an application for four flats above former craft beer bar and restaurant Latitude 48 in the town centre, one resident said: “We live in converted upstairs floors above shops on the High Street.
“There are so many opportunities for this in the centre of Barnstaple, upper floors used as dumping grounds for the shops below them for decades that could be utilised to both bring more security and footfall into the High Street, giving more customers to local businesses can’t possibly be a bad thing.
“The floors above Latitude 48 are still configured as the North Devon Journal offices (the publication moved to Roundswell in 2006), that’s how long they’ve been basically derelict and unused!
“The flood risk is negligible and wouldn’t pose a risk to anything on the first floor anyway for many years.”