Source: DEFRA
DEFRA have announced that thirteen communities across the UK will benefit from a £5 million fund to come up with innovative projects that will better protect homes and businesses from the risk of flooding, Environment Minister Richard Benyon announced today.
The following Local Authorities will receive funding: Blackburn, Buckinghamshire, Calderdale, Cornwall, Devon, Liverpool, Northamptonshire, Rochdale, Slough, Southampton, Swindon, Warwickshire and West Sussex.
The objective of this scheme is to protect communities where flooding is a major problem and the projects will be required to demonstrate that they can reduce the levels of flood risk in measurable ways. This will give residents evidence about flood risk that could be taken into account by insurers and result in lower premiums.
The projects are funded by the Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder scheme launched by Defra in December 2012.
Announcing the funding, Mr Benyon said:
“We want to help local communities do more to protect their homes and possessions from the risk of flooding. The Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder Scheme will enable communities to find simple, effective ways to minimise their flood risk, improve their levels of preparedness, and build confidence and increased peace of mind.
“All together with money from local communities and business raised through our successful partnership funding scheme, over £2.3 billion is being spent to protect people from flooding. This is more money than ever before, and we are on course to better protect 165,000 homes by 2015.”