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View Synopsis Dr GEOFF MEADEN, Biographer, Canterbury Christ Church University: 'Floodplains have been populated for ages because, of course, floodplains were a natural place to live originally because you were close to water. Most of our large cities they've all got lots of houses already built on floodplains. Those houses will be more vulnerable to flooding. But, of course, we know that the population pressures are huge in Kent and the government have designated thousands of extra houses for Ashford, Canterbury etc. So one of the easiest places to build are on floodplains.'

But that, of course, carries the risk that homes built there will be flooded. As in the Kent village of Lamberhurst in 2000 when the River Teise inundated the town. But disasters like that haven't stopped developers making elaborate plans for future floodplain development.

SEAN FUREY, Deputy Director, CPRE, Kent: 'There is an idea for what was called a canal district which would be to build buildings on this floodplain here with an idea that it would allow the flood waters to pass through and you'd have nice canals during the rest of the year that would be very attractive. The trouble is that, during the summer, these water courses become little more than just muddy ditches which, if we're looking under climate change scenarios, some river flows are likely to decrease. And then, in the winter, of course, the flood levels come up and if the flood water can't go here then where can it go? And behind us here you can see some older housing which is already at flood risk and we might see those areas at more flood risk than they are at the moment.'

The trouble is that climate change is beginning to increase dramatically the chances of inland flooding.

Dr GEOFF MEADEN: 'With global warming we're going to get wetter winters. Wetter winters mean that we're going to have all of our annual rainfall concentrated in the wet season. This means that the rains you'll get from about October to perhaps the April or May, they will saturate the soils; they will be heavier rains. The saturated soil will not allow the water to soak into the ground as it would normally so it will just run off across the surface and it will run off across the surface in much larger amounts than at the moment. So you're going to have huge volumes of surface water going into the rivers and the rivers are going to rise drastically causing temporary flooding along any low-lying areas. Now there's parts of Kent that are very susceptible to this. So round the River Stour in Canterbury, the waters all congregate from upstream: they pass through the North Downs and when they get to Canterbury they can be a much deeper level than they are normally. And all of the area round Yalding and upstream from Maidstone, that can all be flooded as well for the same reason. You've got a lot of streams converging in the one area.'

So we know the risks - let's stop building on floodplains. Unfortunately, it's not that easy. Ashford alone has to provide 31,000 new homes in the next two decades.

MATTHEW WOODHEAD, DHA Planning Consultants: 'I think inevitably floodplains are being built on. If you just take the Thames Gateway for example, most of the development there allocated is within floodplain. So there is floodplain development coming forward. What's changing is the type of floodplain development that's coming forward and the pressures that's now on the developer to address those floodplain issues and not increase the risk for safety reasons for existing development or any new development. So the onus is on the developer now that they have to improve the floodplain situation, not make it worse.'

But is that possible? Can we really build on floodplains and, at the same time, decrease the risk of flooding? Environmental campaigners are sceptical.

SEAN FUREY: 'If you were to go over there right now what you would see is pretty much a largish ditch. It's not what you would call a great river. You can't go punting on it or anything dramatic like that. But, in the winter, it will flood this whole area of land on quite a frequent basis. And what we're seeing is all around - as Ashford grows - there's pressure to build on this floodplain or build right up to the ages of this floodplain. And that's where we're getting into conflicts over climate change where we're looking at uncertainties over where future flood levels will be in relation to where the housing is at the moment and will be in the future.'

The body responsible for resolving just those uncertainties is the Environment Agency.

ANDREW PEARCE, Environment Agency: 'The Environment Agency's remit is to protect the environment in the context of sustainable development and we look to advise local authorities and planners with that regard. I mean it is down to the local authorities to decide what the balance is between flood - managing flood risk and the needs of the communities in terms of jobs and homes. We continue to be very robust in our advice around development in a floodplain and when we think development is inappropriate or the risks are too high then we make very strong formal objections.'

But are strong and formal objections enough? Will they sway local authorities who have to meet government targets on new homes and developers who want to maximise profits?

MATTHEW WOODHEAD: 'The Environment Agency now have considerable powers which they haven't done before. Since the end of 2006 you now cannot get planning permission for a site if you have an Environmental Agency objection to it. Because, invariably, when an Environment Agency objection is put on an application local authorities now are very rarely going against that advice from the Environment Agency and rightly so.'

And new planning regulations known as PPS25 do give the Environment Agency much greater powers against local authorities. But flood risk is affected by a double whammy - climate change AND, ironically, building development itself.

Dr GEOFF MEADEN: 'What we're doing is we're concreting over the landscape. And there's a huge proportion - something like 11% of Kent - now is covered by tarmac, tiles or concrete. And all of the water that falls on that just goes straight into the gutters or into drains and that goes straight into the river in most cases or is discharging into rivers. So that increases the flood potential because you're hurrying the water up into the river.'

And there's another problem. The new PPS25 regulations only came in in 2006. And houses built on floodplains before that are simply not covered.

MATTHEW WOODHEAD: 'The protection that existing residents get from new developments is that the new development won't make their position worse. But, of course, a whole housing estate within a floodplain that's been built 20 years ago - apart from removing that and putting it all with new development - it's very difficult to do anything which is fundamentally going to affect those buildings now.'

So while houses designed and built after 2006 should theoretically be flood-proof, that still leaves an awful lot of hopes at risk as Kent's climate continues to change.