MP: Flooding victims unable
VICTIMSoflastmonth’sfloods looking for vital funds from a resilience grant scheme will be unable to claim again.
It comes after the Environment Secretary George Eustice said the Government insisted victims hit by the 2015, as well as 2020’s floods, should already be prepared for future disasters.
Large parts of England were swamped in 2015, including the Calder Valley which had once again been hit by severe storms during February.
Environment Secretary George Eustice told the House of Commons those who claimed up to £5,000 five years ago “have already invested to make their homes more resilient”.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed this was the case, but stressed there were a number of other schemes available.
Many businesses and homeowners across Calderdale in flood-struck areas Brighouse, Elland, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Todmorden, and Sowerby Bridge, do not apply for the grant if they were affected by the Boxing Day flood disaster of 2015 - and the recent devastation left by Storm Ciara.
Holly Lynch, Labour MP for Halifax, said the situation was “unrealistic”.
She said: “I assume his position is for resilience, it’s not for repairs or recovery, but if you’re having to invest in, for example, expensive dehumidifiers time after time, that’s a cost you will incur every time you flood.”
She added that resilience methods may have moved on and there may be better methods available now than five years ago, and those who had previously claimed would be looked out of taking advantage of the most up-to-date protection.
“The Environment Secretary’s logic is if you had a resilience grant in 2015, you should already be resilient,” said Ms Lynch.
“Most of the people who flooded recently also flooded in 2015.
“They may have had their plug sockets moved half way up after 2015 and can recover faster.
“But to think they won’t require support to recover again, that they don’t incur costs for cleaning, hiring pumps and dehumidifiers as part of their resilience efforts, or that resilience measures which are available now might not have been in 2015, [it] shows a complete lack of understanding of what we need in Calderdale. Nightmare.”
It comes as the head of the Environment Agency warned