Environment Minister Therese Coffey has repeated the Government’s support for an important flood defence scheme which will protect the village of Severn Stoke and the vital A38 link road to the M5. The support follows letters written by West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin to both the Minister and the chief executive of the Environment Agency urging them to support the scheme and to identify funding streams to speed up delivery of the project. Dr Coffey praised the community volunteers at Severn Stoke who have led the project and welcomed the successful consultation event which took place last month. Harriett commented: “I continue to keep the pressure up at a local and national level to try and find the quickest possible route to deliver this scheme, which is complicated by much of the land required for the scheme being in private ownership. “Nevertheless, the community group is doing sterling work driving this scheme forward and I wanted to make sure that they have my full support – and the support of Government Ministers. “We’ve already seen the benefits of flood defence schemes in nearby Upton-upon-Severn, Callow End and Powick and the major road-raising project at Ryall is nearing completion. “But there is still work to do both at Severn Stoke, and also Tenbury Wells, and I will continue to work with the Government to try and find ways to deliver these, more expensive, schemes as quickly as possible.”