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CHazard risk Grade
Flood & hazards in Bingley · Environment Agency

In Bingley, heavy rain puts more homes at risk than rivers or the sea: 3.2%, against 1%

On the Environment Agency’s maps, which allow for flood defences, “high or medium” means at least a 1 in 100 chance of flooding from rivers or the sea in any year. Bingley’s Hazard risk Grade is C: #60 of 91 in West Yorkshire.

2015worst recorded flood13flood warnings since 2006100%in a radon Affected Area
In brief

What stands out about Bingley’s hazards

From the Environment Agency’s maps and records and the BGS radon atlas, below.

Rain, more than the river3.2% of homes sit where heavy rain can flood the streets, against 1% at risk from rivers and the sea.Remembers 2015Floodwater covered 21 hectares of today’s Bingley in 2015; 196 of today’s households live inside past flood outlines.The River Aire ran its 7th-highest in January 20252.47 m at Cottingley Bridge on 1 January 2025, 87 cm under the record set in 2015.13 flood warnings since 2006For the parts of Bingley the Environment Agency warns directly; the most recent on 1 January 2025.
By hazard

What Bingley faces

Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.

Rivers and the sea

1%of homes at high or medium risk
More than the typical UK town · more than 69% of towns
109 homes by the EA’s own count

Surface water

3.2%of homes at high or medium risk
More than 44% of UK towns
Rivers and sea: 1%

Past floods

6years with a recorded flood
Last recorded: February 2022
196 households inside past outlines

The River Aire

1.74 mhighest in winter 2025–26 at Cottingley Bridge
28th-highest of 30 winters
Record 3.34 m, December 2015

Flood warnings

13flood warnings since 2006
66 flood alerts for the wider area
Last warning 1 January 2025

Radon

100%of the town in a radon Affected Area
Highest band here: 5–10% of homes
98% in squares of 5% or more
Not on this page: coastal erosion, subsidence and shrink-swell ground (the British Geological Survey licenses it), groundwater flooding and reservoir failure.
Hazard risk Grade

Bingley grades C for hazard risk

Flood risk from rivers and the sea, against all UK towns.

Homes at high or medium flood risk (1%)Fewer than 31% of UK towns

The share of homes at high or medium risk from rivers and the sea, ranked against every UK town of 1,000 or more: fewer homes at risk is better. Towns with none at high or medium risk are ordered by their share at low risk, so they don’t all share one score. Surface water and radon aren’t graded: they are described below.

Flood map

Where the water goes in Bingley

Turn layers on and off. Blue is the risk from rivers and the sea; pink is where heavy rain collects. Both allow for flood defences.

Recorded flood: 1978Recorded flood: 2000River Aire: 2002Recorded flood: 2015Recorded flood: 2020Recorded flood: 2022© OpenStreetMap contributors · EA NaFRA2
HighMediumLowrivers & seaHighMediumLowsurface waterBingley’s built-up area

The river and sea risk follows the River Aire and the Bradford Beck. Surface-water risk is spread across the town, in dips, underpasses and along small streams, which is why more homes are exposed to it.

Rivers and the sea

1% of Bingley’s homes are at high or medium risk from rivers or the sea

The Environment Agency’s national map, allowing for defences. A further 1.2% are at low risk.

High risk0.6%of homes · 1 in 30 a year or more62 homes, EA count
Medium risk0.5%of homes · 1 in 30 to 1 in 10047 homes, EA count
Low risk1.2%of homes · 1 in 100 to 1 in 1,000133 homes, EA count
Where Bingley sits among 3,735 UK towns
35%None
23%Under 0.5%
9%0.5–1%
11%1–2%Bingley
11%2–5%
5%5–10%
3%10–20%
2%20% +

Share of each UK town’s homes at high or medium risk from rivers and the sea. 35% of UK towns have none; Bingley has more than 69% of towns.

Towns its size: 195th of 302 from the fewest homes at risk
#TownPeopleHigh or med.
1Northfleet Kent29,8920%
2Jarrow Tyne and Wear29,4670%
3Cramlington Northumberland28,8460%
…
193Crowthorne Berkshire15,1961%
194Witham Essex27,3951%
195Bingley West Yorkshire21,3341%
196Gorleston-on-Sea Norfolk24,4741.1%
197Hythe and Dibden Purlieu Hampshire19,8571.1%
…
301Wisbech Cambridgeshire26,80043%
302Goole East Riding of Yorkshire20,17394%

UK towns of 15,000 to 30,000 people.

The Environment Agency’s Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea (NaFRA2, June 2026) counts each postcode’s homes by band; the shares weight those postcodes by Census 2021 households. The EA counts include homes built since 2021.

Surface water

Heavy rain puts about 3 times as many Bingley homes at risk as rivers and the sea do

Surface water is rain that falls faster than drains and the ground can take it. It is mapped separately from rivers and the sea, and it is not in the Hazard risk Grade.

Surface water3.2%
Rivers and the sea1%
0%7%14% of homes

About 1.5% of homes are at high risk of surface-water flooding (a 1 in 30 chance or more each year) and 1.6% at medium risk: roughly 320 households. A further 6.1% face a low risk from surface water. That is more than 44% of UK towns.

~320
households at high or medium risk
6.1%
of homes at low risk
44%
of UK towns have a smaller share
14,151
addresses read on the map

Our estimate: every address in the town (ONS NSUL) read on the Environment Agency’s Risk of Flooding from Surface Water map (NaFRA2, 2025), each postcode’s share weighted by its Census 2021 households. Neither agency publishes a count of homes for surface water, so treat it as a guide; one street can differ from the next.

Flood history

Bingley has flooded in 6 recorded years since 1978, most of all in 2015

Every flood the Environment Agency has mapped inside Bingley’s built-up area, newest first. The record is fullest for big river floods; small and surface-water floods are often missing.

  1. 2022February 2022: River flooding recorded2 hectares inside today’s built-up area · February Flood Incident -Storm Dudley, Eunice and Franklin
  2. 2020February 2020: River flooding recorded1 hectare inside today’s built-up area · February Flood Incident - Storm Ciara
  3. 2015December 2015: River flooding recorded21 hectares inside today’s built-up area
  4. 2002February 2002: The River Aire overflowed3 hectares inside today’s built-up area · River Aire. Bingley
  5. 2000October 2000: River flooding recorded13 hectares inside today’s built-up area
  6. 1978December 1978: River flooding recorded1 hectare inside today’s built-up area
The worst: 201521 ha

Floodwater covered 21 hectares of what is now Bingley in 2015, the largest flood the record holds here (December).

196 of Bingley’s households today live inside the outline of a recorded flood.

Since 2015, the largest recorded flood inside the town covered 2 hectares.

River levels

The River Aire at Cottingley Bridge: highest 3.34 m, in December 2015

The highest level each winter (October to September) at the Environment Agency’s Cottingley Bridge gauge (Cottingley), since 1996. The river normally runs between 0.28 m and 1.70 m here.

Highest level each winter, metres
Winter 1996–97: highest 1.65 m · 0 days above the normal rangeWinter 1997–98: highest 2.14 m · 6 days above the normal rangeWinter 1998–99: highest 1.99 m · 10 days above the normal rangeWinter 1999–00: highest 2.31 m · 17 days above the normal rangeWinter 2000–01: highest 2.89 m on 31 October 2000 · 11 days above the normal rangeWinter 2001–02: highest 2.42 m · 13 days above the normal rangeWinter 2002–03: highest 1.98 m · 3 days above the normal rangeWinter 2003–04: highest 2.27 m · 10 days above the normal rangeWinter 2004–05: highest 2.07 m · 6 days above the normal rangeWinter 2005–06: highest 1.77 m · 2 days above the normal rangeWinter 2006–07: highest 2.16 m · 14 days above the normal rangeWinter 2007–08: highest 2.40 m · 13 days above the normal rangeWinter 2008–09: highest 2.11 m · 6 days above the normal rangeWinter 2009–10: highest 2.13 m · 9 days above the normal rangeWinter 2010–11: highest 2.22 m · 7 days above the normal rangeWinter 2011–12: highest 2.31 m · 11 days above the normal rangeWinter 2012–13: highest 2.10 m · 8 days above the normal rangeWinter 2013–14: highest 1.65 m · 0 days above the normal rangeWinter 2014–15: highest 2.09 m · 3 days above the normal rangeWinter 2015–16: highest 2.56 m on 26 December 2015 · 20 days above the normal rangeWinter 2016–17: highest 1.95 m · 4 days above the normal rangeWinter 2017–18: highest 2.16 m · 5 days above the normal rangeWinter 2018–19: highest 2.34 m · 8 days above the normal rangeWinter 2019–20: highest 2.63 m on 9 February 2020 · 24 days above the normal rangeWinter 2020–21: highest 2.48 m on 21 January 2021 · 15 days above the normal rangeWinter 2021–22: highest 2.65 m on 20 February 2022 · 10 days above the normal rangeWinter 2022–23: highest 1.98 m · 8 days above the normal rangeWinter 2023–24: highest 2.48 m on 20 October 2023 · 23 days above the normal rangeWinter 2024–25: highest 2.47 m on 1 January 2025 · 9 days above the normal rangeWinter 2025–26: highest 1.74 m · 1 days above the normal range’00–01’21–22’19–20Record 3.34 m, 2015Top of normal range
1996–972025–26
The highest days on record
  • 31 October 20002.89 m
  • 20 February 20222.65 m
  • 9 February 20202.63 m
  • 26 December 20152.56 m
  • 20 October 20232.48 m
  • 21 January 20212.48 m

The River Aire has topped its normal range on 276 days since 1996, most in the winters of 2019–20 and 2023–24. By its highest day, the winter of 2025–26 was the 28th-highest of the 30.

Environment Agency Hydrology API, Cottingley Bridge (station L1607), daily maximum level; the record and normal range from the EA’s stage scale. Live river levels are on GOV.UK’s Check for flooding.

Flood warnings

No flood warning or alert is in force for Bingley · 13 warnings in 20 years

The Environment Agency has 3 flood warning areas and 1 alert area reaching into the town; warnings since the service began in 2006.

Now: no flood warnings or alerts for Bingley (checked 8 November 2026, 01:48). Check for flooding on GOV.UK →
Warnings and alerts each year for areas in Bingley
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Flood warning (flooding expected)Flood alert (flooding possible)

Of the 13 warnings, 10 were for River Aire at Cottingley and 2 for River Aire at Crossflatts. 2020 had the most warnings (6); 2012 the most alerts (11).

The most recent warning was on 1 January 2025.

Show the 4 warning and alert areas
AreaKindSince 2006Now
River Aire at CottingleyWarning area10None
River Aire at CrossflattsWarning area2None
River Aire at BingleyWarning area1None
Middle River Aire catchmentAlert area66None

Environment Agency Historic Flood Warnings (first issues only, not updates; “flood watch” counted as an alert before 2011) and the real-time flood-monitoring API. Sign up for free warnings on GOV.UK or call Floodline, 0345 988 1188.

Radon

Parts of Bingley are in radon Affected Areas, up to the 5–10% band

Radon is a natural radioactive gas from the ground; long exposure raises the risk of lung cancer. The atlas gives the chance that a home in each 1 km square is above the UK action level (200 Bq/m³).

SE0939: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE0940: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE0941: 3–5% of homes above the action levelSE1036: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1037: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1038: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1039: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1040: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1041: 3–5% of homes above the action levelSE1136: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1137: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1138: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1139: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1140: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1236: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1237: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1238: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1239: 5–10% of homes above the action levelSE1240: 5–10% of homes above the action level© OpenStreetMap contributors · BGS/UKHSA
3–5%5–10%
Share of the town’s area in each band
3–5% of homes2%
5–10% of homes98%

100% of Bingley’s built-up area is in a radon Affected Area (1% of homes or more above the action level), and 98% in squares of 5% or more.

The squares are indicative: each takes the highest band found anywhere inside it, so most homes in a coloured square are below it. Only a three-month test in the home gives a real answer.

BGS/UKHSA Indicative Atlas of Radon in Great Britain, version 3. Check an address at UKradon.org.

Neighbours

Flood risk in the places around Bingley

Share of homes at high or medium and at low risk from rivers and the sea. Tap a town for its page.

Harden: Hazard risk DEast Morton: Hazard risk BWilsden: Hazard risk BShipley: Hazard risk C+Baildon: Hazard risk B−Cullingworth: Hazard risk C−Keighley: Hazard risk C−HardenEast MortonWilsdenShipleyBaildonCullingworthKeighleyBingley
ABCD
TownPeopleHigh or mediumLowHazard
Bingley21,3341%1.2%C
Harden1,6025.5%2.6%D
East Morton1,227under 0.1%0.2%B
Wilsden3,7490.1%1.4%B
Shipley29,2280.7%3.6%C+
Baildon17,0560.3%0.5%B−
Cullingworth3,0962.9%4.9%C−
Keighley48,7541.6%1.7%C−

Harden, 1.8 miles west, has the most homes at risk around Bingley (5.5% at high or medium).

Be ready

Get ready for what Bingley faces

Free warnings, what to do in a cloudburst, and what to check before you move.

Get the warnings
  • Sign up free for Environment Agency flood warnings by text, call or email.
  • Floodline: 0345 988 1188, 24 hours.
  • Bingley’s warning areas include River Aire at Crossflatts and River Aire at Cottingley.
Sign up ↗
In a cloudburst
  • Surface water rises in minutes, often with no warning issued: stay out of underpasses and dips.
  • Keep the gullies and drains outside your home clear of leaves.
  • Report a blocked road drain to the council.
Radon
  • Test over three months, in a living room and a bedroom.
  • Above 200 Bq/m³, a small sump and fan usually fixes it.
  • New homes in radon areas are built with protection: basic from 3%, full from 10%.
UKradon ↗
Before you buy or rent in Bingley
  • Check the address on GOV.UK’s long-term flood risk service: it gives rivers and sea and surface water separately.
  • Ask whether the home has flooded or had a flood insurance claim; the TA6 property form asks the seller.
  • Homes built before 2009 can get flood cover through Flood Re, the government-backed scheme; newer homes can’t.
  • Check radon for the address on UKradon.org (a small fee) or ask the seller for a test result.
How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Defences are counted. Both agencies’ maps allow for flood defences and the chance they are overtopped or fail, so a town behind a defence scheme can show few homes at high risk and many at low risk.
  • Surface water is our estimate. Neither agency publishes a count of homes at risk from surface water, so we read each address on the map. A flat on a hill and a basement in a dip can share a postcode.
  • Past floods are what was recorded. The flood outlines come from surveys, aerial photographs and reports; many small floods, and most surface-water floods, were never mapped.
  • One town, many streets. Risk is street by street. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s long-term flood risk service before you buy or rent.

Check the long-term flood risk for an address on GOV.UK →

Questions about flooding and hazards in Bingley

Does Bingley flood?

The last flood the Environment Agency recorded inside the town was in February 2022. 1% of homes are at high or medium risk from rivers and the sea on the Environment Agency’s maps, which allow for flood defences. About 3.2% of homes are at high or medium risk from surface water, when heavy rain overwhelms the drains. Bingley grades C for hazard risk against UK towns.

Which parts of Bingley are at risk of flooding?

From rivers and the sea, the places the Environment Agency warns directly: River Aire at Cottingley, River Aire at Crossflatts and River Aire at Bingley. Surface water can collect in low spots anywhere in the town. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s long-term flood risk service.

When did Bingley last flood?

The recorded flood outlines inside the town run from 1978 to 2022 (6 years); the largest was in 2015. Flood warnings have been issued for parts of the town since 2006, most recently on 1 January 2025.

Is Bingley at risk of surface water flooding?

About 1.5% of homes are at high risk and 1.6% at medium risk from surface water, against 1% at high or medium risk from rivers and the sea. Surface water floods come with little warning, and the agencies don’t issue warnings for them.

Is radon a problem in Bingley?

100% of the town’s built-up area is in a radon Affected Area on the BGS/UKHSA atlas, and 98% is in 1 km squares where 5% or more of homes may be above the action level. Most homes are below it; a three-month test is the only way to know.

Are there flood warnings in Bingley now?

No flood warning or alert was in force near Bingley at 8 November 2026, 01:48. Live warnings are on GOV.UK’s Check for flooding service and Floodline, 0345 988 1188.

Contains Environment Agency information © Environment Agency and/or database right 2026. Contains British Geological Survey materials © UKRI 2026.

Sources: Environment Agency Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea, postcodes in areas at risk (June 2026); Natural Resources Wales Flood Risk Assessment Wales (May 2026); ONS Census 2021 households by postcode · Environment Agency Risk of Flooding from Surface Water (NaFRA2, 2025) and Natural Resources Wales Flood Risk Assessment Wales surface water and small watercourses, read at every address (ONS National Statistics UPRN Lookup, September 2026) and weighted by Census 2021 households by postcode · Environment Agency Recorded Flood Outlines and Natural Resources Wales historic flood map, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Environment Agency Hydrology API (daily maximum river level) and flood-monitoring stage scales · Environment Agency real-time flood-monitoring API · Environment Agency Historic Flood Warnings (January 2006 to June 2026) and flood warning and alert areas · BGS/UKHSA Indicative Atlas of Radon in Great Britain, version 3, by 1 km square · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.