UK must prepare for extreme weather and ageing population

UK must prepare for extreme weather and ageing population. Researchers have mapped areas of England most likely to face more extreme weather events and increasingly elderly populations, and have called on service providers to adjust their planning to meet these challenges. The new maps produced by Durham University's Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience and Heriot-Watt University suggest that many areas in England projected to see an increase in severe weather, such as floods and heatwaves, over the next 30 years, may also need to care for high proportions of vulnerable older people. The study highlights the potential vulnerability of older populations in rural regions, often in coastal areas. The findings are relevant to the whole of the UK and other parts of the world where an increase in extreme weather events coupled with population ageing are also expected, the researchers say. The first results of the Durham and Heriot-Watt project, Built Infrastructure for Older People's Care in Conditions of Climate Change (BIOPICCC), are published in the journal Applied Geography. The study, based on data derived from the UK Climate Impacts Programme and the Environment Agency's Foresight, mapped the likely patterns of heatwaves, coldwaves and flooding.