FAMILIES at risk of flooding in a Northumberland town are set to get good news about the delayed £20m project to give their homes added protection, their local MP has claimed.
Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery says he has the “utmost confidence” that the Environment Agency will give the green light next month for work to start on Morpeth’s vital flood defence upgrade next year.
Mr Lavery says he also believes the agency’s national board will recommend funding approval for the full scheme – not one with less protection or which has to be carried out in phases to cut costs.
His optimism that the project will finally go ahead early in the 2012/13 financial year has been heightened by the decision to allocate £350,000 for detailed design work, and Northumberland County Council’s approval of between £7m and £12m in capital funding towards the work.
The scheme, which aims to protect Morpeth against a repeat of the September 2008 catastrophe when 1,000 homes and businesses were flooded, was originally scheduled to start in December this year.
In January it was postponed because of Government public spending cuts and its failure to score highly enough under a new national assessment system.
Hopes that it will get under way next year were raised recently by the council’s pledge of financial backing, with external and local funding now being a requirement for schemes under new Defra funding rules.
