£80m funding secured for South Yorkshire flood defences

Almost £80m of new government funding has been secured for South Yorkshire’s flood defences.The funding was confirmed at the Environment Agency’s Yorkshire Regional Flood and Coastal Committee meeting on 21 January 2021, which considered the new medium-term plan for the region.It marks a three-fold increase in the scale of investment to South Yorkshire and comes after Sheffield City Region mayor Dan Jarvis, local authority leaders and the Environment Agency worked together on plans to respond to the November 2019 floods.Combined with other public and private funding, it means that almost £93m has been secured for flood risk investment over the next six-year period.The funding is set to support 27 priority projects identified by the mayor and local leaders to protect more homes and businesses.However, South Yorkshire’s leaders have also called on the government to take urgent action to fill the £125m funding gap in flood defences following Storm Christoph.