MAYOR RESPONDS TO £80M FUNDING FOR SOUTH YORKSHIRE FLOOD DEFENCES

Published 22 January 2021 at 2:55pm

Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, Dan Jarvis, has welcomed almost £80m of new Government investment for South Yorkshire flood defences, following sustained pressure and cooperation with local leaders and the Environment Agency in response to the November 2019 floods in the region.

Combined with other public and private funding, this means that almost £93 million has been secured for flood risk investment over the next six-year period.

The funding was confirmed at the Environment Agency’s Yorkshire Regional Flood and Coastal Committee meeting on Thursday (January 21), who considered the new Medium-Term Plan.

It marks a three-fold increase in the scale of investment to South Yorkshire and comes after the Mayor, local authority leaders and the Environment Agency worked together on plans to respond to the November 2019 floods.

The funding marks a significant step towards the delivery of 27 priority projects identified by the Mayor and local leaders to protect more homes and businesses. It comes in the week large swathes of the area faced a renewed risk of flooding from Storm Christoph.

Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, Dan Jarvis, said:

“I’ve fought tirelessly to get the Government to act and deliver investment to protect South Yorkshire from flooding since the devastating scenes of November 2019. Just this week Storm Christoph has shown how a lack of action has left our region exposed.

“It’s therefore incredibly welcome that the Environment Agency’s Yorkshire Regional Flood and Coastal Committee has approved substantial new investment for South Yorkshire, following extensive work by local leaders to develop a plan which will help protect our region from harm in future.

“Local leaders and I have put forward almost £6m of our own funding to kick start the works and alongside this funding boost, we can go a long way to delivering our plan, which will help keep our communities and businesses safe.

“I want to pay tribute to the Chair of the Regional Committee and to Environment Agency Yorkshire area colleagues for their hard work in addressing this challenge and for their continued efforts to keep us safe as we deal with the threat from this week’s flood warnings.

“I’m determined we see the South Yorkshire catchment plan delivered in full, and that’s why the onus is now on Ministers to step up and fill the remaining £125m gap in the South Yorkshire’s Flooding Priority Programme. People in South Yorkshire cannot afford any more sleepless nights. Local leaders have acted decisively, now Ministers must do the same.”