Developers will be required to meet stringent rules for all housebuilding in Hull after the city agreed pioneering design guidelines with the Environment Agency in the wake of last month’s floods.

The rules mean that developers will have to flood-proof properties up to 300mm from the floor level by using resistant plaster, tiling floors and running electrics from the ceiling, rather than the floor.

This is likely to affect all new developments in Hull as 95% of the city lies on a flood plain.

The measures, which were announced after talks with the Environment Agency, strengthen policies brought in by the council in 2002 that recommended that developments in areas at high risk of flooding be built upon a raised platform of 300-600mm.

The council now plans to insist that all developments must comply with the measures in order to receive planning consent.

The measure will affect the Kingswood estate in Hull, a development of new-build properties that has permission to build 200 houses a year until 2016. Kingswood was particularly badly hit by the floods.

Alex Codd, strategic planning manager at the council, said: "Inevitably building will occur within the flood plain. We are looking to ensure if anything like this does happen again the buildings are designed in a way to deal better with the flood waters.”

The council’s proposals are an interim measure before more permanent guidelines are announced by the council's strategic flood risk assessment (SFRA), which concludes its work in October.