Calderdale Council is marking the six month anniversary of the devastating Boxing Day floods by announcing plans for a further £3million boost to the recovery and resilience programme.
At the meeting of the Council’s Cabinet on Monday 4 July, councillors will consider the detailed deployment of the £3m fund, which was agreed in outline at the Annual Budget Council in late February.
Members will discuss proposals to allocate this funding to several schemes to benefit residents and businesses affected by the recent flooding in the borough.
In particular, members will look into a number of areas for possible investment, including:
- Investing in flood prevention – including proposals for a number of specific investments to help prevent future flooding and develop schemes for natural flood management.
- Boosting business – including grant funding, business support activity and funding for local business networks to enable them to set up their own support programme.
- Supporting people and communities – including proposals to appoint additional Community Liaison Officers to provide extra help in the hardest hit areas. Cabinet will also consider plans to invest in incident management systems such as additional CCTV at key flood danger points, and also funding to help restock flood groups.
- Helping households – including continued support for household flood grants by providing additional staff to speed up grant processing and advice
- Extra support within the Council – including appointing extra staff for the flood team.
The effects of the flooding have been far reaching. The latest figures show that almost 2000 homes were flooded and over 1000 businesses. To ensure the £3m funding goes where it’s needed most, Cabinet will also take in to account funding from other sources such as the support for communities, businesses, council tax/business rate relief and infrastructure works, from central government. They will also highlight and bear in mind the successful fundraising by the Community Foundation for Calderdale (£3.2m), and how these funds have been deployed.
The Leader of Calderdale Council, Cllr Tim Swift, said:
“It’s now six months on from the December floods, and we’re determined to continue to support our flood-stricken communities and businesses as they bounce back.
“We’re doing everything we can to help protect communities more effectively in the future, and these proposals will allow us to make an informed decision about how best to allocate the £3m flood budget identified as part of the 2016/17 budget setting process.
“We’re also working with partner agencies to press ahead with a £60million programme of infrastructure repair and flood prevention schemes – for example at Elland Bridge and the A646 at Hebden Bridge.”
Members will consider proposals at the Cabinet meeting on Monday 4 July at Halifax Town Hall from 6pm.