West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin today offered her support to people threatened by a further round of floods. This year has seen flooding sweep across the county and recently installed flood defences have so far protected Pershore, Uckinghall, Powick and Upton-upon-Severn. One of the two new pumps at the Kempsey flood defence scheme failed. An investigation is underway to identify the cause of the fault. Harriett Baldwin commented: “It is terrible news that a pump failed at Kempsey’s new scheme but I pay tribute to the Environment Agency engineers and the Fire Brigade who came out at 3:30am on Sunday morning to fix the pump and evacuate the affected homes. “There will be a full investigation into the cause of the pump failure and the pump will be monitored manually 24 hours a day until this flood recedes. “So far, across West Worcestershire, flood defence schemes built since 2007 at Pershore, Uckinghall, Upton-upon-Severn and Powick successfully protected homes and businesses that would have been flooded without them. “I am still campaigning for a scheme to protect Tenbury Wells and the government is rightly planning to spend £2.17 billion to protect more than 145,000 homes and businesses across England between now and March 2015.” The MP also repeated her call on the Government to conclude negotiations with the insurance industry to guarantee universal cover for flood-affected homes and businesses. Environment Minister Richard Benyon is currently holding talks with the Association of British Insurers to reach a deal which will ensure insurers will offer cover to all properties beyond next year, when a current commitment ends. Harriett said: “The Government has allocated many millions of pounds delivering flood defence schemes across the country. “I believe it is better to do this than to allocate taxpayers’ money to subsidise the insurance industry. “I hope that the Government can reach a deal soon as the current Statement of Principles runs out next year.”