£4.5 million flood defence repair work well underway
A £4.5 million programme of work is well under way to repair flood defences in Midlands damaged by high tides and river levels during winter.
The work will be delivered using additional funding from central government and will take place across Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire.
A number of repair projects have already been completed and others are progressing well. Repairs to the damage are planned to be completed by the end of October this year to ensure that these flood defences are ready for any floods or high tides that may occur during the winter months.
Permanent repairs to the Priding flood wall which protects 30 properties in Framilode on the River Severn in Gloucestershire have already been completed. In Hampton Bishop, Herefordshire 150 metres of damaged flood embankment have been repaired and similar work has been completed on a flood embankment at Ark Corner in Melverley, Shropshire.
The three largest projects, which are expected to cost over £500,000 each, at Minsterworth, the Rea Flood Bank and Lapper Ditch Outfall, Gloucestershire are scheduled to start on site in August and September.
Phil Foxley from the Environment Agency said:
This significant programme of maintenance and repair work is extremely important as it means our flood defences can continue to reduce the risk of flooding to the communities that they protect. The recovery work, which is in addition to our annual routine maintenance and inspection programme, is on schedule to be completed by the end of October this year.