WEST WORCESTERSHIRE MP Dame Harriett Baldwin has called on the Government to investigate issues faced by businesses and Tenbury Town Council getting flood insurance as it reviews the national scheme which guarantees affordable insurance for home-owners.
FloodRe is a scheme that was created over a decade ago to help private properties which not able to insurance cover owing to frequent flooding.
The Government is reviewing the scheme and Dame Harriett raised the plight of Tenbury people in the House of Commons and called on the Minister to review the support for property owners who are not able to access the FloodRe support.
The MP raised her concerns directly with Ministers when the Town Council confirmed that it is not able to secure ongoing flood insurance after the Environment Agency placed the full town flood defence scheme on hold.
Instead, property owners, including the town council, will be able to install extra flood protection measures at buildings which regularly flood in the town, but that project is not yet underway after delays appointing contractors to carry out the work.
Dame Harriett said: “The pausing of the town-wide flood defences was a terrible blow for many local people and local businesses, and this was made worse by the actions of insurance companies who decided to shift their policies and make them unaffordable.
“This review of FloodRe is going hand in hand with efforts across the country to improve property-level flood protection and I have asked the Minister to consider helping commercial property owners and local authorities who are currently left unable to get flood cover.
“I’m hoping the Environment Agency will speed up the work to install the flood gates and other measures throughout the town so that Flooding Minister Emma Hardy is able to do a tour of the works as soon as possible.
“Of course, I’m going to keep lobbying to secure funding for the full scheme but while a national review of flood insurance cover is underway, I’m asking the Government to look at all options to help Tenbury out.”
