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• Healey announces further flood funding for Barnsley

Healey announces further flood funding for Barnsley

Floods Recovery Minister John Healey today announced almost £400,000 funding for Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council to help reimburse some of the costs after last summer's floods. This brings the total funding for Barnsley to deal with the summer floods to over £1.6m.

This payment is part of over £18.7m 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 £87m Government support has now been made available to help communities get back on their feet following last summer's floods - with £31 million to follow through the Restoration Fund announced recently.

This is the last scheduled Bellwin payment relating to last summer's floods and 42 local authorities have now received funding.

John Healey said:

"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. This payment demonstrates our continued commitment to support flood-hit communities, like Barnsley."

Notes to editors

1. This Bellwin payment of £391,749 to Barnsley brings the total government funding for Barnsley to help with the summer's floods to £1,639,615.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

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