Healey announces further flood funding for Gloucestershire and Lichfield

Published	26 March 2008

Floods Recovery Minister John Healey today announced almost £1.5 million funding for Gloucestershire County Council and Lichfield District Council to help them get back on their feet following last summer's floods.

This is part of over £17 million that has now been paid out under the Bellwin scheme, which covers costs incurred by local authorities during immediate action to safeguard residents and property to prevent suffering as a result of a disaster or major emergency. This means that in total up to £87 million Government support has now been made available to help communities get back on their feet following last summer's floods.

Gloucestershire County Council will receive £1,454,384. This brings total financial support for the Council to £13.6 million - they have already received an interim Bellwin payment of £1.1m, funding for school repairs of over £1m and for road repairs of over £10m.

Lichfield District Council will receive £28,597 bringing their total support to £128,597 - they have already received £100,000 flood recovery grant to help those most in need following the floods.

This is the twelfth set of Bellwin payments relating to last summer's floods and 39 local authorities have now received funding.

John Healey said:

"Lichfield was the first area I visited following the floods and I saw for myself how the council worked with other agencies to help those in need. I have also made several visits to Gloucestershire since the summer so am well aware of the huge challenges they faced.

"So I am delighted to announce almost £1.5million funding for Gloucestershire County Council and Lichfield District Council to support their efforts to get the areas back to normal following the floods. Due to the scale of events we made it easier for councils to claim back additional costs from the Government, significantly extending the period for which they can claim, and increasing the proportion of costs they can receive to 100 per cent of spending above the threshold.

"Today's payments demonstrate our continued commitment to support flood-hit communities. It brings total support for Gloucestershire to £13.6m and Lichfield to £128,000. While a huge amount has been achieved I am well aware that some areas still face challenges. So we will continue to support these communities over the coming weeks and months."

Notes to editors

The Bellwin scheme predominantly covers uninsurable costs as defined by the long established insurance policy offered to local authorities by the Zurich insurance company. The costs typically covered include: costs of evacuating people from dangerous structures and works to make them safe following a natural disaster; temporary re-housing, initial repairs to and the clearing of debris from highways, pavements and footpaths.

The statutory requirement for the Bellwin scheme is that claims must relate to costs incurred by an authority on, or in connection with, immediate action to safeguard life and property or to prevent suffering or severe inconvenience as a result of a disaster or emergency. The scheme does not usually cover capital expenditure; or the normal wages and salaries of the authority's regular employees; whether diverted from their normal work or otherwise, and the standing costs of the authority's plant and equipment.

The usual period to take action eligible for grant is two months but for the June and July floods that timescale has been trebled to six months. Local authorities will also be able to claim 100 per cent of eligible costs - instead of the normal 85 per cent - once they have spent over the threshold of 0.2 per cent of their revenue budget. The extension of time and the increase in the percentage means that authorities can claim more of their expenditure.

While local authorities normally have a month to notify the department of their intention to claim under Bellwin, on this occasion the department has been proactive in contacting them to ensure that they are in no doubt that they can claim, know how to apply and are aware of what they can claim for.