WEST WORCESTERSHIRE MP Dame Harriett Baldwin has repeated her call for urgent action to deliver property level protection to Tenbury properties after the funding stream was approved this week.
The English Severn and Wye Regional and Coastal Flood Committee, which has to make recommendations on flood funding budget allocations for local projects, has agreed to move Tenbury into its funding programme for delivery next year.
The committee heard that a budget allocation totalling £1.8million can be moved from a flood defence repair scheme to support Tenbury’s property-level protection with a further £900,000 identified for the following year.
Dame Harriett met with the Environment Agency last week to get a debrief on the impact of Storm Claudia on the town, where there was a very high risk that the town would be flooded again.
The MP urged the local team to press on as soon as possible with the work to design and deliver property level flood protection for Tenbury’s regularly flooded homes and businesses.
Up to 200 properties could be protected by this work and Dame Harriett has also discussed the project with both Flooding Minister Emma Hardy MP and the chief executive of Malvern Hill District Council Vic Allison to encourage all parties to accelerate the delivery of this project.
Dame Harriett said: “Tenbury will flood again and Storm Claudia was an extremely concerning weather event. I was troubled by local reports that the flood gauges were giving inaccurate readings and I have been told they had silted up over the dry summer and have now been cleaned.
“We have sorted the funding issue and the Environment Agency now needs to be working at full speed to get the individual property level protection designed, costed and in place.
“I’ll be keeping a close eye on this matter and I know that, from my conversations with the Minister, the Government is too.”
