Yes, in pockets, and the pockets are getting larger. About one postcode in six carries a high-risk surface-water rating. The high-risk sea-and-river flood zone covers around one in twelve postcodes today. The climate-adjusted projection pushes that to about one in eight. The coast is ten metres away at its closest. The map is part of the address.
The river and sea picture is concentrated and visible. There is no flood zone 2 here, the medium-probability tier, and around 8 per cent of the area, roughly one postcode in twelve, sits in flood zone 3, the high-probability tier. No recorded historic flooding shows against the postcodes here in the standard datasets, which sounds reassuring until you remember the climate-adjusted figure is the one that decides what happens next. The coastline matters because the coastline is close: about two in three postcodes sit within five hundred metres of the sea, with the median around three hundred metres from the water and the closest only ten.
Surface water is the broader story. About one postcode in six carries a high-risk rating for surface-water flooding, one in twenty sits at medium risk, and another one in eight at low risk. Surface-water flooding is the kind that arrives during heavy rain rather than from the sea or a river, and the rating is at postcode rather than house level, so two houses on the same road can have different exposures depending on which side of the contour they sit on. It is also the most common British flood-claim category, and it does not care whether the rain came from a Channel storm or a blocked drain.
The forward look is what the climate allowance is for. The high-risk sea-and-river zone covers around 8 per cent of the area today and around 13 per cent under the standard climate uplift, which is the figure flood authorities use to plan defences and insurers use to price the next decade of policies. The nearest tide gauge has measured sea level rising at about two millimetres a year, which sounds slow until you compound it over a mortgage term. The coastal management plan covers every postcode here and holds the line at twenty, fifty and one hundred years, meaning the defences in front of the village are committed to stay rather than retreat. That is what the council promises, not what the weather guarantees.
For insurance, flood exposure of this shape sits at the awkward end of the rating spectrum. Properties in the high-probability flood zone, or in postcodes with a high surface-water rating, generally pay more, sometimes considerably more, and may need flood-specific cover layered on top of a standard buildings policy. There are national flood reinsurance arrangements that soften premiums for many older domestic homes within scope, but they are not a guarantee of cheap cover and they do not extend to every property. The realistic question on any specific house here is not whether flood comes up in the survey. It is how it comes up.
This is not a flood-free village. About one postcode in six is rated high-risk for surface water today, around one in twelve sits in the high-risk sea-and-river zone, and the climate-adjusted figure adds another slice on top. Buy carefully, ask for the flood history street by street, and read the map before reading the brochure.