THE chairman of Worcester City Council's planning committee has voiced concern over building near flood zones - urging the rapid pace of development to slow down.

Councillor Alan Amos says he is worried the rush to get more properties up around Worcestershire could have unwanted consequences.

We reported earlier this month how experts have found 1,700 established 'flood spots' around Worcestershire, areas where rising waters have impacted upon a home, business or piece of infrastructure like roads.

Some 20,000 properties are still classed as 'at risk' of potential flooding by the Environment Agency.

Councillor Amos, who is also a county councillor, says too much development could hinder efforts to bring that figure down.

The current emerging South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) has earmarked land in Worcester, Malvern and Wychavon for 28,370 properties by 2030.

Councillor Amos said: "I'm becoming concerned that we're using land which is on the margins on flood plains.

"In the rush to build people seem to say 'oh it'll be ok', but I'm not ok with that.

"Once developers have built what they want and have taken their money out of it, they are gone.

"It's the marginal land that really bothers me because that's what we are putting pressure on."

The Environment Agency says the current house building plans in the county will not result in actual floodplains coming into play.

But it will result in considerable in-fill on vacant plots of land and fields, meaning a potentially greater risk of surface flooding and more homes near rivers.

Councillor Amos was speaking at a meeting of the county council's economy and environment overview and scrutiny panel, where environment agency and council flood experts turned up.

Matt Maginnis, the council's flood risk manager, said: "When it comes to the flooding zones, particularly by our bigger rivers, there's quite a high degree of accuracy with those.

"They really do bear the best of time - but where we actually get more of a 'grey area' is when we talk about surface water, that's a different issue."

A new annual county council report on flooding says in 2015 over 500 broken gulley connections have been repaired and 17,500 gullies emptied.

Around 70 road drainage improvement schemes were complete, in a bid to compliment the major flood defence investments.

The great floods of 2007 saw 4,500 properties across the county damaged and after that £12.5 million was pumped into new defences, including Worcester's Hylton Road bund.

The most recent serious flooding event was the February 2014 incident which saw the main Worcester Bridge closed and 163 properties affected, leaving a clean-up bill which topped £640,000 - and in January this year rivers also bust their banks.