South Yorkshire Leaders: Storm Christoph shows we can’t wait to fill funding gap on flood defences

THIS week, South Yorkshire’s public services have pulled together in a mammoth effort to keep residents, businesses and communities safe from the threat of flooding brought by Storm Christoph.

More than 600 staff from our four South Yorkshire local authorities, the Police and Fire Service, Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency have been working round the clock to hand out more than 43,750 sandbags, check in on and provide advice to elderly and vulnerable residents, monitor river levels and clear gullies and drains.

This has all been done against a backdrop of managing the COVID pandemic and ensuring staff and residents follow lockdown guidance.

South Yorkshire’s leaders are now calling on the government to take urgent action to fill the £125 million funding gap in flood defences.

Dan Jarvis, Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, said: “With multiple flood warnings in place across South Yorkshire, we are grateful for the herculean effort our emergency services, the Environment Agency, and our local authorities and communities have made to reduce the threat to life and property. They are doing brilliant work, and we will continue to support them in every way we can.

“We of course all have in mind the hugely damaging floods that battered South Yorkshire in November 2019. Local leaders and I are determined to continue working to secure the investment which will help prevent a repeat of those devastating scenes.

“However, we cannot do that without the government providing the funding we need. We have committed our funds to help start the work, but we look to the government to now fill the £125million gap in funding for our Flooding Priority Programme. Even if we have been able to avoid the worst this time, we cannot afford to take risks in the future when the consequences are so damaging for our communities and our region.”

Cllr Sir Steve Houghton CBE, Leader of Barnsley Council, said: “The government and major agencies now must recognise that South Yorkshire needs to be prioritised, and bring the right levels of investment into our area. The commitment shown by the four South Yorkshire councils and the South Yorkshire Combined Authority needs to be matched, and we need to bring to and end the worry and stress our communities face each winter.”

Mayor Ros Jones from Doncaster Council said: “Yet again Doncaster and its communities have rallied together to deal with the threat of flooding which has been made all the more exhausting during a global pandemic. It is evident that Doncaster, like the rest of South Yorkshire, needs critical funding to protect our residents and businesses from the devastating impacts of floods. We have had too bitter an experience of this over the last 12 years and the floods of November 2019 are fresh in our minds. So, I support and join other leaders in South Yorkshire in demanding Westminster acts and acts quickly to protect us all with the funding we need.”

Councillor Chris Read, Leader of Rotherham Council said: “Working with our partners across the region, we are continuing to lobby Government for the funding urgently needed for the comprehensive flood defences we need. Without the investment required, I fear we will remain stuck in this continual cycle of worry, reaction and getting by each winter when what we are crying out for is the certainty, security and protection that our communities should expect. The Government has listened but now it must act.”

Councillor Bob Johnson, Leader at Sheffield City Council, said: “I’m extremely proud of our response to the recent severe weather in Sheffield. Previous flooding incidents have caused devastation to so many, and as a result of this we have worked exceptionally hard, forward planning, to prepare and protect the city from this happening again.

“Over the last few years we have invested heavily into flood defence schemes in Sheffield, we continue to build on this and construction work on our Upper Don Scheme is now well underway. We’ve stepped up to protect our communities, but more investment is needed across the whole of South Yorkshire. I join our neighbouring authorities in lobbying the Government for more funding to provide the security we desperately need.”