South Yorkshire leaders invest millions to prevent repeat of 2019 floods

The area's four council leaders and metro mayor Dan Jarvis have agreed to pay out £5.5m to help kick-start work on nine critical flood protection schemes.

It comes as South Yorkshire marks the one-year anniversary of the catastrophic floods which affected more than 1,000 homes and 564 businesses, with 700 houses deemed unlivable in Doncaster alone.

Leaders say the £5.5million investment will protect 860 homes across South Yorkshire, as well as ensuring that infrastructure including Sheffield Midland and Rotherham rail stations, major road and rail and Supertram networks, are resilient to flooding in the future.

The investment will also bring forward more measures to protect communities from surface water flooding across Doncaster and renew or improve culverts around Barnsley and the Dearne.

In a joint letter to the Environment Secretary George Eustice, South Yorkshire leaders urge the Government to match their commitment in order to get the works moving and provide the remaining £36m in November's spending review to ensure that the nine schemes are completed swiftly.

The Sheffield City Region combined authority has also been told by the Environment Agency that all but one of the 27 schemes in the South Yorkshire Flood Response Plan will be in the agency’s indicative future programme of works.

Mr Jarvis said: “I’ve fought tirelessly for the Government to work with us to develop a plan which will keep the whole of South Yorkshire safe from a repeat of the devastation last winter.

"That’s why I’m pleased, that working with the four Local Authority leaders, we are aiming to bring forward nine shovel ready flood protection schemes as part of our wider Flooding Response Plan.

"We stand ready to deliver these nine flood protection schemes and will invest £5.5 million to protect our residents and businesses.

"We are putting our money where our mouth is – but now we need the Government to do the same at the Spending Review.

“At the long-awaited flooding summit last month with Ministers, there was consensus to support more flood protection initiatives in South Yorkshire.

"We will continue to work closely with the four local authorities and the Environment Agency to deliver these schemes, and I am pleased that the majority of our 27 priority flood schemes are proposed for inclusion in the Environment Agency's indicative future programme of works.

“This year has been full of challenges, but I continue to fight for our communities and work with Government to ensure that homes and businesses in South Yorkshire will be best protected from the devastation of flooding.”