Norfolk: Ministers warned over flood budget cuts

Ministers were last night urged to pump millions more into Norfolk's flood defences to prevent communities being swept away by water - reports the Eastern Daily Press.

Norfolk County Council is lobbying new environment secretary Hilary Benn to restore a £20m cut made to the Environment Agency's flood defence funding for the Anglian region.

This year the agency's spending on flood risk management in the region has been slashed from £99m to £79m.

Ian Monson, cabinet member for the environment and waste, has written to Mr Benn warning that the funding squeeze could seriously compromise the Agency's abilities to carry out its duties.

“We feel it will accumulate if we don't put the right resources in properly to manage our flood defences properly they could be in danger in the future,” he said.

“It is a warning. There's a definite feeling from people here in Norfolk along the coasts and river banks that things are getting worse. This is rapidly becoming a major concern.

"It's not only coastal defences, it's riverbanks, and doing the remedial work in clearing silt out of the rivers.

“We took a big knock for funding in this region and clearly we have suffered with flooding. We need to get this reinstated and put the budget back.” he said.

Last month MPs warned that swathes of lowland East Anglia could be routinely deluged because of a neglect of the region's flood defences.

It followed a hard hitting report by the National Audit Office stating that the Environment Agency was not doing enough to protect property and businesses.

North West Norfolk MP Henry Bellingham, who quizzed Mr Benn about the extra funding in Parliament, said it was vital extra cash would be found for sea defences.

“We need to make sure that the sea defences budget is increased,” he said. “Luckily in Norfolk very few of the rivers flood, but the main danger is from the sea and a lot of my constituency could well disappear.

“Defra has been hit really hard by the rural payments fiasco and the money has had to be found elsewhere in the budget. They have had a rough settlement from the government and there are good reasons to be concerned about the government's commitment to Defra and the countryside.

“Maybe these floods are a wake up call but the devil is going to be in the detail,” he added.

Steve Wheatley, the Environment Agency's flood manager for the Anglian region, said the region had lost out following a funding change which saw cash handed out based on national priorities.

“Overall it would help if there was more money for flood risk management and we do manage with a limited pot,” he said.

Are Norfolk's MPs really going to vote to reward the audit-failing EU with an extra £2.5bn a year, while their county is under threat of disappearing underwater unless there is greater investment in flood defences?

Henry Bellingham MP, at least, has confirmed that he will vote to block the EU budget deal while there are such urgent and crucial local needs for extra investment.

But what about Norfolk's other MPs? Should the worst happen, are they going to risk being seen to have taken a terrible decision with scarce public money, and to have massively betrayed their constituents' interests?