YORKSHIRE is the victim of a scandalously raw deal on funding for flood defences as ministers favour the South over the North.
The stark divide is illustrated by a three-to-one bias in the money our region receives.
This year Yorkshire – one of the worst-hit areas in the summer floods – only received £35m for defences and the North-East a further £10m. London received £70m and Anglia £81m.
What then, might the solution be?
Now, as the Environment Agency in Yorkshire competes for funding for next year, we can reveal the definitive list of schemes delayed, underfunded, rejected and scrapped due to a lack of cash for the region.
Some defences have even had to be scrapped because the money has had to be diverted to repairs following June’s floods – and there is no extra emergency Government money.
Across north, south, east and west, flood defence schemes have been deemed important enough by Environment Agency officials for funding but have failed the final hurdle – the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) central committee.
What’s more, the Yorkshire Post reveals today that communities along Yorkshire’s East Coast have just months to save their sea defences with the agency about to compile a register of which communities it can no longer afford to protect.
The sky is falling.
