Flooded farmer left high and dry by payout scheme

A FARMER whose land was left underwater after a river burst its banks has been told he is not eligible for full compensation from a government flood fund.

Henry Ward’s 200-acre farm in Lincolnshire has been flooded since October, after the neighbouring Barlings Eau river broke its banks during repeated storms.

But he has been informed that he is not eligible for compensation for 160 acres of the land under the Government’s new flood fund, which offers grants of between £500 and £25,000 to farms affected by Storm Henk in January. Mr Ward will only receive £2,000 for compensation on 40 acres of the land, despite all 200 acres being under water.

Mr Ward, whose wife Emma is heavily pregnant, said he felt “physically sick” when informed of the decision by the Rural Payments Agency on Tuesday.

The maximum £25,000 he could receive was “peanuts compared to what I’ve lost”, but would have helped him claw back some of the costs he had faced. “If I can’t get this £25,000, please can you introduce me to the man or woman that can,” he said.

The Barlings Eau had not reached river levels that would trigger compensation payments, he was told, despite the flooding having occurred after the river bank was breached.

“They said the river level wasn’t high enough for it to trigger their eligibility criteria. Well, it won’t be because there was a massive hole in the riverbank and half the river was on my farm,” he said. “This really highlights how disconnected civil servants in Whitehall are to what’s happening on the ground.”

The Environment Agency is responsible for maintaining flood defences such as the river bank, and has spent £450,000 carrying out temporary repairs by Mr Ward’s farm.

If it had not been for the flooding, Mr Ward said he would have produced some 500 tons of wheat, 100 tons of oil seed rape and 150 tons of peas.

He is now facing a year without a harvest as the land is likely to be too waterlogged to plant for at least six weeks.

He said it had become “too risky to grow food on this land” and criticised “inadequate” government bodies for failing to protect it.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said eligibility for the fund would remain under review to ensure it is supporting areas where farmland is most affected.