Flood plains are created by floods.
People should be free to build houses beside picturesque rivers but they must put up with the occasional flood.
Community groups will always help those stricken by floods but taxpayers and other insurers should not be forced to subsidise the insurance and flood damage costs for those who choose to live on flood plains.
Sensible people build on the hills and leave the flood plains for floods, farms, trees, market gardens and grass. Rational town planning would require sellers and developers to provide accurate flood maps to buyers and councils should paint flood levels on power poles.
Essential infrastructure should not be built on flood plains.
And rather than wasting billions on trying to change the global climate, governments should spend those billions on weather-proofing railways, bridges, roads and electricity supply.
By Viv Forbes