Healey pledges £18.7M to flooded communities

Floods recovery minister John Healey announced today that 18 local authorities in Yorkshire and Humber would together receive £18.7M to support their efforts to rebuild communities after last summer's floods.

The announcement came while Healey was on a visit to Tewkesbury one year on from the floods that hit Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and many other parts of the country causing widespread damage.

The figure forms part of the £31M pledged to 62 UK authorities to spend as they decide according to local priorities.

The money comes no strings attached from the Government's special Restoration Fund and is on top of over £100million provided by Government to date to local recovery efforts.

Also included in that sum is a further £17million announced today by Transport Minister Rosie Winterton to repair roads and bridges damaged by the floods. Ms Winterton is expected to announce a second round of payments to local authorities to help repair roads and bridges damaged by the floods.

The 18 authorities to benefit are Hull, East Riding, Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham, Barnsley, North Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Scarborough, Leeds, Wakefield, Ryedale, North East Lincs, Kirklees, South Yorkshire Police, South Yorkshire Fire, Humberside Police and Humberside Fire authority.

Allocations from the Restoration Fund include: £7.5M to Hull bringing their total support to date to almost £15.5M; £7M to authorities in South Yorkshire bringing their total support to date to £28.5M; £4M to East Riding bringing their total support to date to £15.2M.

Speaking in Tewkesbury today, Healey said: "One year on from last summer's floods I have been impressed by people's resilience and how communities have pulled together to get back on their feet. So far we've made available over £100M to assist the affected regions recover and help those in greatest need. Today's announcement of £17M more to repair roads and bridges will be a welcome double cash boost for some areas."

Earlier this week Healey announced that the number of flood-hit families still out of their homes has fallen by a quarter in the last month and the number living in caravans has halved. This big drop means around 3,400 households are either living in temporary accommodation, in caravans or the top floor of their homes - down from 5,659 at the end of April and 4,716 at the end of May.

"It is a long established principle that authorities put aside resources and get insurance to cover unforeseen events such as floods. But given the scale of last summer's flooding it was right that Government has stepped in to help to the tune of £133million," said Healey