Flooding response defended by Minister

Environment Minister Dan Rogerson said the Government had invested across the country as he visited Mytholmroyd in Calderdale which was hit by flash flooding in 2012.

Earlier this year, then Calderdale Council leader Tim Swift criticised the Government for offering more help to communities in the South and South West hit by flooding last winter than was given to Calderdale two years ago.

Mr Rogerson said: “We learn from every event and try to improve, the whole point is to get better and that is what we are hearing about today.

“Certainly the Government is committed to investing that money right the way across the country where it will do the best work to protect people and property and businesses.

“That’s what we are about doing and that’s why we are seeing schemes like what we are looking at today and the future of investment in flood defences here.”

Mr Rogerson was being shown a flood store in Mytholmroyd set up with Government funding which contains equipment the community can use in the event of a flood.

He said: “Whenever you have a flood risk area, people want to help they want to know what they can do to help protect their property, their families and their businesses and so it’s about giving a structure to that.

“The partnership here, we have seen there is equipment people can use, there is knowledge built up by people locally about where the risks are and what to do when they get a sense that something’s coming whether that’s from the Environment Agency or just their own knowledge about how the river is behaving and starting to rise.”