£1m flood fund approved by county council (From Gazette & Herald)

£1m flood fund approved by county council

A £1M fund to help flood-prone areas in North Yorkshire has been approved in a county council vote on Wednesday that calls for a county tax increase of nearly 8pc.

Next year's total budget for North Yorkshire County Council will amount to £425.5m. For a Band D property it means the council tax charge will be £668 compared to £619 in the current year.

The £1m extra was an 11th hour proposal put forward by the Conservative group, the money to be spent on such schemes as drainage infrastructure and preventing future flooding on roads. It

Coun Murray Naylor, a member of the North Yorkshire County Council decision-making inner cabinet group, said: "This is North Yorkshire County Council putting its money where its mouth is." He was confident the £1m would be approved as the Conservative group has a majority in the council.

Coun Naylor said: "A prime responsibility for the county council is to give a lead to the communities it serves. I cannot believe that people in North Yorkshire will not accept that an extra 1pc on council tax to help those communities affected by last November's floods is not justified."

There were many other areas besides Malton which were affected by flooding, such as Ebberston, Keldholme, Marishes and Thornton-le-Dale.

County council leader David Ashton said: "Although work to prevent these kinds of incidents is not the clear responsibility of any particular organisation, the Conservative group feels that the county council should take a lead."

The money would be used in partnership with other organisations and would be in addition to North Yorkshire's share of funding for Environment Agency work on flood defences on the major rivers.

Coun Naylor added: "I hope that by concentrating on infrastructure projects in Ryedale and elsewhere the county council will help to ensure that the effects of any future flooding will be mitigated."

Coun Naylor added he was sure people expected their local authorities to take action. "I hope other authorities will do likewise," he said.

The Labour group at county council had proposed its own flood scheme.

It wants the council to pay for an expanded flood warning system and some prevention measures that will have to be abandoned because the Regional Flood Defence Committee voted not to raise its levy by more than 10pc. The Environment Agency's flood warning system still does not cover all of North Yorkshire.

The Labour group's proposals, devised by MP John Grogan, would mean the county council would go it alone to get such schemes up and running.

Labour leader Mick Haigh said legally the county council could go ahead and it would still get matching MAFF funds where they originally applied.

"We have nothing to lose," he said.

Commenting on allegations raised at a Ryedale District Council meeting that the Government had not taken up European money for floods, Ryedale MP John Greenway said he would raise the matter with ministers.

"Given the appalling state of Yorkshire's flood defences and the lack of money available to the Environment Agency for essential works, we really need to be getting hold of every penny we possibly can from whatever source."

He added: "Given that ministers lambasted the local authorities for not raising all the levy demanded by the Environment Agency in setting the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee budget, ministers need to convince all concerned that they have contributed all the money available to them."

Updated: 16:49 Friday, February 23, 2001