£5.2 billion Government money will create over 2,000 new flood defences across the country by 2027 – protecting an additional 336,000 properties, including 46,000 ‘key sites’ like schools and hospitals. Some of the funding will also provide extra support for homes and businesses to get back on their feet when affected by flooding.
The local MP has held talks with officials at East Riding Council and has pledged to work with them to bring more funding to the county to tackle flooding, including bringing forward more nature-based solutions and increasing public awareness of how to mitigate the worst effects of flooding.
The East Riding and Hull experienced traumatic flooding in the summer of 2007. By July of that year, almost 20,000 homes had been affected with repair costs numbering in the hundreds of millions. Six years later, in 2013, Beverley and Holderness was once again affected by flooding as a result of tidal surges along the Humber.
Graham said, “The memories of flooding in our area, particularly the floods in 2007, will never leave me as long as I live. Since then I’ve been doing work to combat flood risk, such as by chairing the River Hull Board – which helped remove sunken vessels and upgraded pumping stations.
“No area received more investment in the last funding cycle than the East Riding and Hull – hundreds of millions has been spent – but I really do think we should capitalise on the record funding contained in this new long-term plan to keep up the momentum.
“Flood risk is only going to increase as we experience the effects of climate change and more extreme weather, so we should act now to make sure we’re prepared for this.”
Meanwhile, the River Hull Board – which disbanded in autumn 2016 – was reconvened last year following the flooding experienced in winter 2019. It is now chaired by East Yorkshire MP Sir Greg Knight and is in abeyance, to be reconvened in case of emergency.
