Homes made more resilient must be give premium discounts

Environment Agency chairman Lord Smith of Finsbury has said, in an article in The Times, that insurers must reward homeowners who make their property more flood-resilient.

“We need to work with the insurance industry to help individual householders and business owners to make their own properties more resilient to flooding in the future,” he said.

“Advice about simple measures to take — water-resistant plaster, covers for airbricks, protection for door thresholds, electrical wiring at a higher level — and some incentives on insurance premiums to encourage some of these steps, would go a long way to help."

Lord Smith, whose article is about the devastation in the Lake District, is also chairman of the Wordsworth Trust.

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