Grands Vaux Homes On Stilts Could Cost £9M

Homes in Grands Vaux could be rebuilt on stilts to avoid future flooding.

The Infrastructure Minister has told a scrutiny panel it is an option being considered.

Deputy Tom Binet says social-housing provider Andium Homes is assessing what to do with the most severely affected properties:

"There's a small strip of land at the back of those houses that could be developed, and then we would move forward to redeveloping the ones that are sitting below water level."

That would involve them being raised about a metre and half and being rebuilt."

He said it had been estimated the rebuild could cost around £9 million.

Last month the Minister put the expected price tag of a new drainage system  - to replaced the ageing Victorian one in the area and able to come with the volume of rain experienced last month - at £200 million.

60 families had to evacuate their homes after the flash flooding overnight and into 17 January.

The panel also heard that 16 houses could still take many months to dry out. Ten two-bedroom-houses were the worst-affected.

Andy Scate, Chief Officer for Infrastructure, says Andium then have a plan to clean and refurbish houses.

"There's still a number of families in hotels and Andium are doing an awful a lot of work on a daily basis in terms of finding families rehoming option."

Families who are still displaced are expected to be moved into more permanent accommodation by 9 March.