WIREDGOV

Government acts to support local areas affected by Storm Dennis.

Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick MP has today (17 February 2020) activated the government’s emergency financial assistance scheme for areas affected by Storm Dennis.

Under the Bellwin scheme, local authorities dealing with the effects of the storm can apply to have 100% of the eligible costs they incur above a threshold reimbursed by the government.

The scheme has been activated for qualifying areas in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, Worcestershire and Herefordshire which have seen significant impacts over the weekend following Storm Dennis.

Local Government Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

I’d like to praise the work of all emergency responders this weekend as well as local authorities and key agencies for working around the clock to keep us safe.

The government is doing everything it can to ensure communities are supported in recovering from flood damage, and by activating our emergency financial assistance scheme, we are making sure that those places hit the hardest will be able to access funding to help them deal with the aftermath of the storm.

The government continues to monitor the risk of flooding and is working closely with police, fire and rescue, local authorities, local resilience forums and partners to keep communities safe and to support their recovery.

Over 900 Environment Agency staff are on active incident duty and teams have put up more than 3.5km of temporary flood barriers across the country.

The Environment Agency continues to operate flood defences and flood storage reservoirs. Flood defences have so far protected more than 14,000 properties.

The government urges people to check the flood risk in their area and remain vigilant.

Further information

Bellwin is a scheme of emergency financial assistance to help local authorities meet uninsurable costs they incur when dealing with the aftermath of an emergency in their area.

When the scheme is activated each local authority can claim for eligible costs above a set threshold.

Bellwin is regularly activated in times of emergency to make financial assistance available to local authorities.

The public can check their flood risk and keep up to date with the latest situation at www.gov.uk/check-flood-risk or by calling Floodline on 0345 988 1188 or following @EnvAgency on Twitter.

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