Flooding and land in Birdham
Figures last changed 22 October 2026. House prices for Birdham are on the main Birdham page.
On this page: Does Birdham flood? · Will Birdham flood more in future? · How often does Birdham get flood warnings? · Is the coast at Birdham eroding? · Are there old landfill sites near Birdham?
Does Birdham flood?
From rivers and the sea, very little: none of Birdham's 58 postcodes has its centre point in flood zone 2 or 3. These zones cover rivers and the sea only and ignore flood defences. Rain is a separate risk: on the Environment Agency's surface-water map (read 22 October 2026), 18 of the 58 postcodes (31%) have high or medium risk within 25 metres of their centre point. Groundwater isn't mapped in either, and a postcode is not a house: check an exact address on GOV.UK.
Source: Environment Agency Flood Map for Planning · Check an address for flood risk · What the flood zones leave out · New builds and Flood Re.
What locals say
- Some parts of the village are wet, locals say, especially the playing fields behind the shop, next to the new building site. The fields there flooded years ago too, when they were a nursery growing trees.
Will Birdham flood more in future?
Yes, noticeably more, on the Environment Agency's climate change scenario. Its long-term flood maps, unlike the flood zones above, count flood defences. From rivers and the sea, none of Birdham's 58 postcodes have their centre point at high or medium risk today, and one under the scenario, which runs to the 2050s with sea level rise to 2065; at high risk alone, none today and one then. From heavy rain, 18 have high or medium risk within 25 metres today, and 23 under the scenario. High risk means at least a 1 in 30 chance of flooding in any year, and medium means between 1 in 100 and 1 in 30. The maps were read on 22 October 2026.
Source: Environment Agency long-term flood risk maps, today and with climate change.
How often does Birdham get flood warnings?
The Environment Agency issued a flood warning for part of Birdham on eleven days in the ten years to June 2026, most recently on 30 March 2025. One of its 58 postcodes sits inside the Agency's flood warning area "Bosham and West Itchenor" (Chichester Harbour), with warnings on eleven days. No severe flood warning, the level that means danger to life, was issued in that time. Flood alerts, the earlier message that flooding is possible, went out on 44 days in that time, most recently on 2 February 2026. Warnings cover flooding from rivers and the sea, and groundwater in a few places, not heavy rain on its own. Each count is of days on which a new warning or alert went out, so updates on an event already running are not counted again.
Source: Environment Agency Historic Flood Warnings · Environment Agency flood warning and alert areas (real-time flood-monitoring API) · Sign up for free flood warnings.
Is the coast at Birdham eroding?
Not where homes are, on current plans. The shoreline plan for the 4.1 km of coast within 500 metres of Birdham's postcodes is to hold the line, keeping the existing defences, through to 2105. None of its postcodes has its centre point in land the Environment Agency's erosion map expects to be lost by 2105, if that plan is carried out and with its higher central allowance for climate change.
Source: Environment Agency National Coastal Erosion Risk Map 2024.
Are there old landfill sites near Birdham?
None that the Environment Agency knows of: its record of historic landfill sites shows none within 500 metres of a Birdham postcode. The nearest is Jury Lane, 1.1 km away, which took industrial and inert waste such as soil and rubble between 1972 and 1976. A historic landfill is an old tip with no environmental permit in force: one that closed before tips were licensed, or whose licence has since ended. The Agency says much of its record comes from a national survey in the early 1990s, so it may be incomplete, and some boundaries are only approximate. An old tip nearby does not by itself mean a problem; the council's contaminated land register, or a search on an exact address, says more.
Figures cover 58 postcodes in Birdham. How these figures are made.