South Yorkshire to receive further £80 million for flood defences

South Yorkshire is set to receive £80 million from Government after intense lobbying and a close-call in recent times for extra flood defences.
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Sheffield City Region mayor Dan Jarvis announced the region would receive extra funding to further strengthen defences which were recently tested across the county.

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

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The funding was confirmed at the Environment Agency’s Yorkshire Regional Flood and Coastal Committee meeting on Thursday, January 21, who considered a new medium-term plan.

Sheffield City Region Mayor, Dan JarvisSheffield City Region Mayor, Dan Jarvis
Sheffield City Region Mayor, Dan Jarvis

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."

The £80m will help deliver up to 27 priority schemes, including natural flood management across the River Don catchment, Rotherham to Kilnhurst, schemes at Bentley, Fishlake, Conisbrough and Tickhill in Doncaster, the Upper Sheaf catchment and Blackburn Brook in Sheffield and Lundwood in Barnsley.

The remaining £13m of the £93m funding for South Yorkshire is made up of public and private partnership funding, from local authorities and agencies like Network Rail and Highways England.

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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.

Mr Jarvis added: “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’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.”

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