Doncaster flood prevention plan bringing organisations together will 'stop finger pointing' says MP Ed Miliband

Doncaster North MP Ed Miliband said the South Yorkshire flood prevention plan with the county’s councils, Environment Agency, Yorkshire Water and the government was ‘absolutely vital’ in avoiding another catastrophe like 2007 and 2019.

The Connected by Water Action Plan will tackle the climate emergency ‘head on’ by combining the construction of flood walls and barriers with nature-based solutions.

The plan looks at the whole of the South Yorkshire region and considers how water can be managed from the peaks to the sea.

In response to the 2019 floods, £20 million of flood repair works have been completed by the Environment Agency, including a £3m scheme at Fishlake to repair defences in the village.

Bentley Ings Pumping Station in Doncaster has undergone a £12m upgrade to better protect 1,669 homes from surface water flooding, with significant carbon savings.

More schemes are planned for the future in areas across South Yorkshire along the River Don.

Mr Miliband said: “This is good news for Doncaster, my constituency in particular and South Yorkshire generally.

“We’ve made good progress but there is of course more work to be done. We can’t have another situation like 2007 and 2019 and what happened in Bentley and Fishlake.

“Part of the problem in the past has been you’ve got each partner, whether it’s the council or the Environment Agency from one position or another and having their own ideas and how to go forward.

“Properly getting them together is the right way to go about this – I’ve been quite struck at how the council and the EA have been working together more hand in glove

“What I took from this announcement and the meeting I attended was we’re now going to work together and not point the finger at each other and not have one party turn around and say – that’s a matter for them and so on.”