This is the action officials have put in place to try to deal with any future flooding in Doncaster

Ten months on since severe floods hit communities across Doncaster, Mayor Ros Jones and her cabinet will consider a Flood Recovery Report next week on how the events unfolded, what improvements have already been undertaken, and what must be done to help prevent a similar incident happening again in the future.

Measures taken include:

> Extra sandbags with clear plans to quickly deploy them where needed,

> An advance plan to keep key roads open,

> More community flood wardens with refreshed training

> Investment in council specialist flood teams both to quickly respond to issues and to keep on top of the programme of investment in improved defences.

It also calls for more investment in flood defences by the Goverment.

The report reveals flood mitigation measures have been put in place by Doncaster Council, the Environment Agency, water companies and drainage boards. The council alone has carried out £800,000 of flood works in various locations alongside £250,000 of highways maintenance works. This has included the ongoing replacement of 101 culverts, cleansing 40,000 gullies, de-silting watercourses, installing new drains and pipework or repairing existing and various other works.

Since November, the Environment Agency has started an £11million programme of urgent repairs and improvements to flood defences which will help communities across the borough be better protected this winter.

The Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, Dan Jarvis and council leaders from across South Yorkshire have written to the Prime Minister to express their concerns over flood prevention efforts across South Yorkshire. Together they have drawn up a detailed £270million plan for nature-friendly flood defences in the region. This includes urgent projects to protect the places hit in 2019 and which the Government’s flooding plans announced earlier this year, leave defenceless.

The Government’s Property Flood Resilience (PFR) scheme, which has just been extended, means that owners of flooded properties can claim up to £5,000 for flood resilience measures like installing flood doors and fitting air brick covers.

Flood restoration has also been supported by a range of partners from St Peter’s Church in Bentley to Keepmoat Homes, and helped many households who were uninsured get their properties back into a liveable condition, but the report sets out that more national investment along with access to sufficient and affordable insurance is vital to improve support and help those in need get back on their feet.

Ros Jones, Mayor of Doncaster said: “Solving the cause of flooding is often complex and some of the potential solutions are not quick fixes and can be costly to implement. Our Flood Recovery report highlights how essential it is that National Government makes good on the promises given to Doncaster people last November to invest significantly in future flood protection and resilience that will sustainably address the challenges we face now and into the future.”

Helen Batt, flood risk manager at the Environment Agency, said: “Alongside working to ensure our flood defences are ready for this winter, we are committed to working with Doncaster to take a catchment-wide approach which uses nature-based solutions, as well as hard engineered flood defences, to help local communities be more resilient to flood risk and climate change.

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