More cash demanded to help fight future floods
Jan 24 2009 By William Green, The Journal
£50m on the way
AROUND £50m will be spent on flood defence work to protect more than 20,000 North East properties in future, says the Environment Agency.
Area flood risk manager Ian Hodge said £20m brought forward by ministers was being distributed across England.
He said: "There is a lot of work being done in the North East to help reduce the risk of flooding and this announcement is just one way of doing that.
"Next year the region is due to receive £9.7m to pay for flood schemes. This is planned to rise further to £16.6m in 2010-11 and to £23.9m in 2011-12. The increase is to help fund schemes that are progressing towards completion and will help reduce the risk of flooding to more than 20,000 properties.’’
The Environment Agency is also working with councils, which pay into a local flood defence fund, to cut flooding risk.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said a record £2.15bn would be used to fight flooding and coastal erosion nationwide up to 2010-11 – with 145,000 homes protected across England.
