Doncaster businesses are urged to act now as free flood surveys and fully funded follow up support ‘won’t be available forever’

The message from the team at the Flood Innovation Centre, which is part of the University of Hull but is funded to provide support to eligible Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in several areas of the country, is that the funding won’t be around forever.

Eligible businesses are rapidly running out of time to take advantage of the funding that’s on offer because it comes from European Regional Development Fund and is only available for a few more months.

As well as offering free flood surveys, the Flood Innovation Centre team works with business owners to help them understand the findings of their survey and how to make changes aimed at making their businesses more resilient to flooding.

Pip Betts, Project Manager at the Flood Innovation Centre, said: “We’re now entering the final few months of the project so we’d urge any businesses that are concerned about flooding to contact us as soon as possible if they’d like to arrange a free flood survey and take advantage of the fully funded support that’s on offer.

“The funding won’t be around for much longer, so this is a golden opportunity to take steps to boost the flood resilience of your business, ensuring that you’re better protected for future flooding events. You’ll be supported by our friendly, knowledgeable team every step of the way.”

“Communities across the South Yorkshire area face a variety of different types of flood risk, but climate change, coupled with increasing urbanisation, means that flood events are happening more frequently.”

The Environment Agency estimates that the average cost of damage suffered by businesses during a flood event is around £82,000.

As many as 40 per cent of businesses never reopen after being subjected to flooding, and a further 25 per cent of businesses that do reopen go on to fail within a year. Thankfully, by taking a few simple steps to protect their premises, businesses can give themselves a fighting chance of surviving future flooding events.

In fact, every £1 spent on property flood resilience measures can save businesses around £5 in flood damage. Property flood resilience is a term used to describe measures that reduce the risk of flood damage to properties, speed up the recovery process and enable people to get back into their properties quicker after flooding. These measures are installed in business premises, as well as people’s homes, to make them less vulnerable to flooding. Property flood resilience solutions are bespoke to each property; the aim is to identify the measures that are most appropriate for your premises and the type of flooding you face.

To find out more about the fully funded support on offer, contact the Flood Innovation Centre by telephoning 01482 462275, or emailing [email protected] or completing the online registration form at the webiste www.floodinnovation.co.uk/register.

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