'Christmas Floods' - Why Would You Knowingly Build on a Flood Plain?

The shocking images on our TVs on Boxing Day from Lancashire and Yorkshire were extremely sad. Our thoughts go out to those poor families whose homes were flooded, and their lives shaken upside down by the torrents of water. What the news programmes did highlight once again, is the utter stupidity of 'knowingly' building homes on an existing flood plain - such as the site in Plough Lane. Race fans have all too often experienced the floods for themselves, particularly in recent years when we have seen pumps brought to the location in an effort to alleviate the damage sustained. Which of the planned 602 home owners scheduled for the current development, will have their homes and lives blighted because they purchased a house unwittingly on a flood plain? The decision to down grade the flood risk assessment prior to the planning decision seems at best curious, especially as more images fill our screens of the devastation.