Britain will not be able to keep out the sea with 'ever higher' flood defences in the face of climate change, the Environment Agency has warned.
The agency chairman Emma Howard Boyd warned 'we cannot win a war against water' by building bigger walls.
Instead we have to accept that houses and infrastructure must be built to cope with flooding.
Britain will not be able to keep out the sea with 'ever higher' flood defences in the face of climate change, the Environment Agency has warned. Pictured, a man paddling through the streets of Braunton in North Devon after the worst floods for 50 years
Raised electrics, hard floorings and 'flood gates' on houses are all measures that should be installed in new homes, she warned.
Despite this, traditional flood walls are still needed and will cost an additional £1billion each year.
Without increased investment, flood damage to properties and infrastructure in England will significantly increase, the EA strategy says.
Currently the UK spends around £430 million a year on flood defences.
The warning comes as the government agency publishes its long-term strategy for managing the risk of flood and coastal erosion.
It is planning for the potential of up to 4C of warming, well beyond the 1.5C or 2C limits which have been agreed internationally and are seen as thresholds beyond which dangerous climate change will occur.
Environment Minister Therese Coffey said: 'Flooding and coastal erosion can have terrible consequences for people, businesses and the environment.'
The Environment Agency (EA) also predicts that climate change and population growth are set to double the number of properties built on the flood plain over the next 50 years.
Alongside traditional defences, other measures to help communities become resilient to flooding are needed.
These could
