‘Trust on the line’ over floods cash
DEFENCES: City region mayor Dan Jarvis has warned the Government’s trustworthiness is “on the line” with recent flood defence funding “inadequate” to prevent another disaster.
Mr Jarvis and council leaders have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to warn that the £160m allocated falls far short of what is needed.
SHEFFIELD CITY region mayor Dan Jarvis has warned the Government’s trustworthiness is “on the line” with recent flood defence funding “inadequate” to prevent another disaster.
Mr Jarvis and council leaders have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to warn that the £160m allocated for protection works falls far short of what is needed to tackle the growing threat of flooding in South Yorkshire and leaves places inundated last November “defenceless”.
The letter urges the Prime Minister to set a date for a longawaited summit on preventing major floods like those that struck South Yorkshire last year.
Almost 1,000 homes and 564 businesses were affected by flooding, including in Fishlake and Bentley, near Doncaster.
Mr Jarvis said holding back on investment now was a false economy which will see us “paying far more in the long run”.
He added: “It’s been nine months since Boris Johnson agreed to hold the summit after severe floods hit South Yorkshire in November 2019.
“The Government’s trustworthiness is on the line here. We understand that Covid has caused a lot of disruption, but the flood risk does not get any less just because we are preoccupied with other issues.”
The Government increased funding for flood prevention in the 2020 budget – but Mr Jarvis said it was “completely inadequate given the scale of the threat”, targeting only areas affected by the 2007 floods, and not those devastated last year.
In February, the Mayor and local authority leaders joined with the Environment Agency to produce their own £270m “naturefriendly” flood priority plan to cover the Rivers Don, Rother, Dearne and their tributaries.
It includes 25 separate schemes, several of which are led by the Environment Agency and others led by one of the four
South Yorkshire local authorities or other partners.
Barnsley council leader Sir Steve Houghton, one of the letter’s signatories, said that although they had not suffered the same scale of flooding, residents in two areas – Low Valley, Darfield and Lang Avenue, Burton Grange – were “constantly on their guard”.
Sir Steve said the Government’s response had been a “huge disappointment” both for residents and the local economy.
He said: “Flooding schemes are ideal for post-Covid recovery because capital works employ a lot of people and feed supply chains.
“One way or another it fits the criteria for getting the economy moving – it would have killed two birds with one stone.”
Mr Jarvis said recent funding was allocated without consulting local authorities, despite the Government’s devolution pledges.
Stressing the need to combine traditional engineering solutions with more natural flood management measures, he added: “We’ve got to do this in a way which puts local communities in the driving seat and reflects their priorities.”
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We understand the heartbreak, devastation and disruption faced by communities when flooding hits and we are committed to making the country as resilient to flooding as possible. This is why we have already built 59 new flood defences in Yorkshire since 2015, better protecting 13,200 homes, and nationally we have committed record levels of investment over the next six years to better protect 336,000 properties.
“We will continue to work with local leaders and communities across Yorkshire – including holding a round table discussion when it is appropriate to do so.”
The Government’s trustworthiness is on the line here. Dan Jarvis, Sheffield city region mayor.