Flooding
Greg Welcomes Flood Protection Cash
· East Yorkshire is set to benefit from over £3 million of investment to help protect against flooding and coastal erosion.
· The funding comes as part of the Government’s plan to protect communities from flooding in 2021-22, and part of a wider record investment into protection from flooding and coastal erosion over the next six years.
· A consultation will also be launched in autumn 2021 looking at how to better protect frequently flooded communities.
118 more homes and businesses in East Yorkshire are to be better protected from flooding and coastal erosion by 2026-27, as part of new plans announced alongside a £5.2 billion investment.
The Flood and Coastal Erosion Investment Plan outlines how this record £5.2 billion of investment over the next six years will be spent, including more than £860 million in 2021-22 on boosting the design and construction of more than 1,000 flooding alleviation schemes.
The funding will help to protect a total of 336,000 properties in England by 2026-2027, including 118 in East Yorkshire, helping to avoid £32 billion in wider economic damages and reducing the national flood risk by up to 11 per cent across the country.
The funding will be accompanied by a consultation in the autumn, where the Government will look at how to better protect frequently flooded communities. The announcement has been welcomed by local MP Sir Greg Knight, who has campaigned for more resources to combat both flooding and coastal erosion, and who says he will continue to do so..
Commenting, Sir Greg said: “Both flooding and coastal erosion can devastate communities, so we must put better protections in place to tackle it.
“Although the latest announcement will improve the situation, more still needs to be done to guard homes, families and our farmland from the devastating impact of flooding.”
Local MPs Join Forces to Tackle Flooded Farmland Issue
Graham Stuart, MP for Beverley and Holderness and East Yorkshire MP Sir Greg Knight have held a virtual meeting with local farmers, representatives from the Environment Agency (EA), East Riding Council (ERYC) and the National Farmers Union (NFU) about coordinating action to address the issue of flooded local farmland.
At the meeting, the Environment Agency reported on the River Hull bathymetric Survey, which had highlighted a number of focus areas for further investigation and which will become the subject of bids for Government funding. Farmers welcomed the further opportunity to raise their continuing concerns and individual experiences, and to put questions to the EA.
It was concluded that once a clear proposal is put together, the group will be in a position to make a strong case to various private and public bodies to secure funding. A follow up meeting is planned for September to hear an update from the EA about their assessments, solutions and costings, so that next steps can be confirmed.
Sir Greg said, “Clearly more needs to be done and Graham and I are keen to ensure that a co-ordinated approach is pursued so that all options to reduce flooding locally are properly examined.”
Paul Stockhill, Area Flood and Coastal Risk Manager at the EA, said “We were grateful to have the opportunity to share the findings from our survey of the River Hull. There are some locations we want to look into further, where we can see ‘humps’ in the riverbed. We will conduct further sampling, to establish if these are a result of silt build up, or natural features such as chalk and rock.
John Duggleby, who farms at Beswick, said, “I am very grateful for our two local MPs, Sir Greg Knight and Graham Stuart, being so supportive of our case for procuring extra funds from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Greg Calls for Action on River Hull
Long before the recent heavy rainfall, Greg, who chairs the River Hull Advisory Board, has successfully campaigned for better local flood defences. He obtained flood defences for Stamford Bridge and was one of the key players in securing the removal of thirteen sunken vessels from the River Hull which were impeding water flow and increasing the risk of localised flooding.
The sunken boats were removed by contractors following plans put in place by Sir Greg’s committee as part of the River Hull Integrated Catchment Strategy (RHICS).
He has held meetings with government ministers and councillors to ensure that the risk of flooding in East Yorkshire is reduced.
Greg says: “Flooding alongside the River Hull represents the second largest flood risk to the wider area, so anything that can be done to reduce this risk is welcome.
He also campaigned for new Government funding to protect the centre of Pocklington from future flooding.
More needs to be done but Greg is already “on the case”.
