North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has called on the Welsh Government to follow the UK Government’s lead by supporting communities hit by the recent Storm Babet.
Having recently attended the Broughton flooding Public Meeting at which attendees heard from residents whose homes were flooded in the storm, Mr Isherwood questioned the Minister for Finance and Local Government, Rebecca Evans MS, during yesterday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, over why the Welsh Government has not announced any additional funding to help affected communities.
He said:
“Although the UK Government has announced support to help communities in England recover from Storm Babet of up to £500 for flooded households for immediate costs and up to £5,000 to make their homes more resilient, with funding from existing budgets, for which the Welsh Government also received consequential funding at the time, the Welsh Government hasn't announced any additional funding for Wales. And, as you know, Minister, there's a difference between Departmental Budgets and new Treasury money.
“Responding at the Broughton flooding Public Meeting 11 days ago, a Flintshire Council Official stated that they'd be submitting bids to the Welsh Government for both a Mold Flood Alleviation Scheme, following a 2017 study and subsequent modular work on this within the Council, and for works identified by the Section 19 Flood Investigation they're now launching with other agencies after properties in Broughton and Bretton were again flooded.
“So, what prospect, given the resources you have available, do such bids, if properly drafted, worked up and evidenced, have of being successful?”
The Minister replied:
“I think that would be more a question for the Minister for Climate Change in whose portfolio the funding for flooding sits.”
Later in the meeting, Mr Isherwood asked the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd, what discussions she has had with the Climate Change Minister regarding “how timely and promptly the Welsh Government will respond to bids, and the sufficiency of funding for them?”
He said:
“Ground-floor flats in Mold were affected by Storm Babet, roughly the seventh flood in seven years, with the most recent in 2021. Yet, a 2017 Mold Flood Alleviation Scheme Study, commissioned by Flintshire Council, recommended that the report be submitted to the Welsh Government for confirmation that £5.5 million of funding was available. When I raised this at the Broughton flooding Public Meeting 11 days ago, a Council Official stated that they'd broken this down into modules on which they were working, prior to submitting bids to the Welsh Government.
“After I pursued flooding issues in Broughton on behalf of affected residents in 2021, I had to wait 19 months for a full response from Flintshire Council. But that included, and I quote,
'Where possible, the Council will give priority to elderly and vulnerable residents, and to known flooding black spots'.
“However, after Storm Babet, I was contacted by, and on behalf of, elderly and vulnerable residents living in known flooding black spots who'd been unable to get through to the Council or to access resources, including sandbags, who'd been flooded again.
“At the Public Meeting, a Council Official stated they were now working with other agencies to develop a Section 19 Flood Investigation Report prior to submitting a bid to the Welsh Government. So, what discussions, following my question to the Finance Minister earlier, have you had with the Climate Change Minister regarding how timely and promptly the Welsh Government will respond to such bids, and the sufficiency of funding for them?”
The Minister said she hasn’t had any discussion with the Minister for Climate Change on the points raised by Mr Isherwood, but said she would bring them to her attention and ask her to write to him.