Flood cash to be spent on protecting buildings

Home and business owners in a town hit by widespread flooding will get bespoke help towards protecting their buildings.

A wall collapsed in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, after the Kyre Brook rose during Storm Bert in November, leaving the town centre flooded.

The Environment Agency initially allocated more than £17m to a new defence scheme including walls, embankments and flood gates. But plans were put on hold after a funding gap of between £8-13m was identified.

Part of that money will now be spent on helping individual properties, with the agency paying for an initial survey and then looking at funding the installation of flood defence measures in buildings.

Charlie Chandler, the agency's area flood risk manager, said measures could include flood gates, air brick covers and bungs for toilets.

The first step for all homes and businesses was a property survey and some neighbouring properties, such as semi-detached and terraced houses, might need to be looked at together.

He confirmed funding was coming from the original £17m grant that was discussed.

"I think it's a better idea... it would definitely be more of a help to us," said Tenbury resident Maggie Morris, who attended the first drop-in session at the town's Regal Theatre on Monday.

Both she and her husband John own and rent out a bungalow within a few metres of the Kyre Brook, which they said had flooded twice in recent years.

While it already has a flood defence door, the couple said they were keen to learn what measures could protect the property.

"Do I think that it's going to help? I do feel it's a bit like a sticking plaster," said business owner Rachel Rogers.

She said her Market Street bathroom company, Nature's Design Studio, had been devastated by November's floodwater.

"The flooding has got worse... the height of the water now is a lot higher than it used to be," she said.

"I'm not moaning - they will give flood defences... but they really should be looking at the long term about how they could make the situation better."

In addition to funding improvements for individual properties, Mr Chandler said work was still planned for the Kyre Brook including planting trees, ponds and other environmental measures that would allow the area to hold more water.

In terms of the original flood defence scheme that was proposed, he said: "We've seen significant floods over the last five years so we believe that the right investment opportunity is to progress what we can now, at this point in time, to help reduce flood risk and make the community as resilient as possible."

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