THE WEATHER is finally improving and the long wet Winter seems at an end.
The wet weather has brought the return of our annual floods and with three major rivers in my constituency, the Teme, the Severn and the Avon, I am regularly in contact with people who flood and people who are grateful for the amazing flood defence schemes in Upton-upon-Severn Pershore, Powick, Kempsey and Uckinghall.
In recent days I was delighted that the Flooding Minister Emma Hardy MP wrote to me to confirm the nearly £5million which will be spent delivering individual property level protection in Tenbury Wells and the flood bund planned for Severn Stoke.
Both schemes have taken much lobbying and many meetings and I am grateful for the intervention of the Minister and the support of the chief executive of the Environment Agency with whom I have met to press for financial support for both schemes.
The wider permanent scheme for Tenbury Wells remains on pause and I will keep lobbying for funding.
The town will flood again and I’ve urged the Environment Agency to press its contractors to get the property level protection in place before the bad weather and heavy rains return.
I’m also keen to see natural flood management measures put in place upstream to reduce the serious impact of fast flowing flood water across West Worcestershire.
The closure of the A449 over the Malvern Hills was a body blow for many businesses of all sizes located in Malvern and over the hills and it was done without proper consultation and without any impact assessment.
I’m urging Worcestershire County Council to do their homework and ensure that any major road scheme will benefit local people and won’t make things worse for residents and businesses.
The new council arrived with sweeping cuts to the highways budget and I’ve joined local MPs calling for better delivery of services, more work fixing road issues and better strategic thinking to deliver road improvement people want.
I am proud of projects carried out in my constituency like the dualling of the Carrington road bridge, Bluebell Fram roundabout and the raising of the road by Upton-upon-Severn marina and I am calling on the current council leadership to have a much higher ambition to enhance our county infrastructure and help our commuters to get the best possible deal from their nine per cent higher council tax bill this year.
Dame Harriett Baldwin,
MP for West Worcestershire
