There has been much controversy (and some failures to complete house sales in many areas of the UK) because all properties in a particular postcode or area have been 'blighted' on the basis that one or two of them have a history of flooding. There have been two problems - postcodes and areas at risk from flooding do not overlap on a 1:1 basis and many areas shown on EA maps as 'at risk' have never been known to flood.

There is also the problem that the UK insurance industry is showing reluctance to offer house insurance cover to new owners of 'at risk' properties. This is despite an 'agreement' with government that until 2013 (when a review is to be undertaken) insurers will offer new owners cover - that is, existing cover may be passed from seller to buyer. Many house sales fall through because neither existing nor any other insurer will offer cover. Unfortunately, this often becomes known some way into the conveyancing process when both sides have incurred costs. Some further detail on this topic is therefore also included.

Recent major floods in the UK have also emphasised that any area of a town or city may suffer serious flooding simply because surface water drainage is inadequate - there is no need for 'out of bank flows' from a river to produce several feet of rain water in the High Street.

Put simply, severe flooding of built-up areas can occur from any one or a combination of three factors:

• flooding from the sea (obviously only for coastal and adjacent low-lying areas)
• flooding from 'out of bank' flows from rivers (water flows over and beyond the normal banks of rivers)
• flooding from inadequate surface water drainage (inability of road drains to deal with severe rainstorms)

It should be noted that using the term 'bursting its banks' to describe a swollen river is usually incorrect. This term is correctly applied when a river does indeed burst through its banks or other defences - but not when (as more usually occurs) excess water merely flows over the top of river banks or defences without causing massive damage to the banks or defences themselves. Needless to say, the media prefer the more emotive 'burst its banks' to the gentler but correct 'overtopped its banks'.

In June 2009, I was asked by a new campaign group SAFE (Sidmouth Against Flood Emergency) to investigate the technical history of flood defences for the town and in particular to clarify several statements made at its inaugural meeting. These included (by a local councillor) that parts of Sidmouth could flood because they were below sea level. The meeting had been called because some residents feared for the loss of a small local bridge if cliff erosion continued, and had become fearful that the whole town or the central part of it would be increasingly at risk from a combination of high tides, high on-shore winds and severe rain, which might cause the river Sid to overtop its banks close to the town centre.

During the course of these investigations, undertaken mainly during June/July 2009, I contacted three bodies: East Devon District Council (based in Sidmouth), South West Water and the Environment Agency (both in Exeter). Whilst South West Water and the Environment Agency both provided relevant advice and data (and returned my phone calls and emails within a reasonable time), East Devon District Council took over six months (and prompting by over 30 emails and phone calls to various staff) to provide the financial and technical information I had requested.

Initially, East Devon District Council tried the usual trick of trying to claim that the information I had requested under the Freedom of Information Act would take far too long to compile and would cost far too much. This is a standard ploy by the 'gushing little girls' (sometimes of both sexes) who seem to run FoI and other 'public relations' sections within many local councils. Those at EDDC remain memorable primarily not because of their anticipated indifference and apparent laziness but because of their giggling behaviour whenever any request or argument was put to them.

Notable here are Kate Symington KSymington@eastdevon.gov.uk and (when she took maternity leave) her replacement Gill Smith. Their performance will be detailed in due course. Gill Smith in particular remains notable for claiming (whilst giggling) "Oh I don't know if we even have that information" - I was asking how much public money EDDC had spent on several consultants reports over the last few years.

So here we have a 'little girl', employed at a considerable salary (maybe £40,000pa + overheads, who knows, it is probably a secret) and who is demonstrably stupid enough to expect anyone to believe that EDDC would not have available knowledge of how many tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money had been paid to specific contractors over recent years. It might be considered doubtful if anyone of her ability would find employment in a real job - which may explain why she works for East Devon District Council. Of course the term 'work' is here used loosely. To judge from my experience of telephoning her, much of her daily routine might better be classed as 'play and giggles at the public's expense'.

Also of interest may be the advice given many years ago to East Devon District Council by a university academic (now dead) to the effect that if EDDC proceeded with a proposed scheme for rock revetments to lessen storm damage from high seas to the town centre, the revetments would cause loss of the shingle beach to the east of Sidmouth and consequently, severe erosion of the cliffs to the east. In the event, this is exactly what has happened, yet no-one - least of all EDDC - seems to want the matter re-examined. It was the continuing erosion of the base of these cliffs, combined with the increasingly petulant behaviour of the river Sid, that in part caused SAFE to be formed in June 2009. In the event SAFE had a short life - one public meeting - but it served usefully to initiate my involvement in what continues to be a topic of widespread interest and with substantial economic implications.

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