£50m funding made available to stem flooding
Government committing to over 40 actions which will help to better protect and better prepare the country against flooding and coastal erosion.
FIVE MONTHS ago, in the wake of dramatic rainfall I made an urgent visit to Mytholmroyd in the upper Calder Valley, where I was met with scenes of devastation.
The street was thick with mud, saturated belongings were piled on the pavement and people were desperately sweeping away debris and mud that had been washed through their homes and businesses by the sudden force of flood water.
My heart went out to them. Since then, a lot has changed. Coronavirus has brought challenging changes to all of our lives, but few have faced the double pressure that many communities in Yorkshire have faced, simultaneously dealing with perhaps the greatest health challenge this country has faced whist still reeling from having their worlds turned upside down by Storms Ciara and Dennis.
It is a further example of the real impact that climate change is already having on our communities, and the urgent need for a serious long-term vision to accelerate action to tackle flooding in this country.
We’re setting out that vision by committing to over 40 actions which will help to better protect and better prepare the country against flooding and coastal erosion.
We are doubling our record investment in protecting and preparing the nation to £5.2bn. This will deliver 2,000 new flood schemes across England by 2027, better protect 300,000 properties – including 46,000 nonresidential sites like hospitals and schools.
More than £50m of this will be going to Yorkshire, accelerating construction in Leeds, Sheffield, and the Calder Valley.
These scheme will provide better protection for thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs, including in many places have been badly affected by flooding in recent years.
What also struck me as I walked round Mytholmroyd, was the resilience of the local community.
Their homes and businesses may have been devastated by the water, but the people were not defeated and within hours many were already working to get their lives back in order.
Now we need to make sure that those homes and businesses themselves are as resilient as the people who live and work in them.
Last spring was the wettest on record, and in the face of climate change, where extreme weather is becoming more frequent and flooding more severe, we’ll be making sure that every property at high risk of flooding is better protected or prepared.
This is clearly a huge task, but one we’re getting on with immediately.
£200m will be provided to 25 local areas to drive innovative actions to boost resilience, with Yorkshire being one of four initial areas to benefit from this funding, and changes to the Flood Re insurance scheme will provide households with cheaper premiums if they make changes to their properties to increase flood resilience.
Longer-term, we’re also expanding the flood warning system to cover all properties at high risk of flooding and reviewing planning rules for building on floodplains.
By building a better protected and better prepared nation, we will ensure that there are fewer such families and businesses in the future and that every place can thrive in a changing climate.