West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has welcomed confirmation that the scheme to protect Severn Stoke from flooding has been awarded an extra £750,000 of Government funding.

Harriett lobbied Government Ministers to award the cash from an £100 million scheme to help areas which suffer from frequent flooding. The flood scheme for Severn Stoke, which is currently under construction, will get an additional cash after the Environment Agency took control of the scheme earlier this year.

The bund, protecting homes, businesses and the vital A38 link between Worcester and the M5, was originally developed by the community to try and keep it affordable and relied on local contractors to supply materials for the bund.

The Environment Agency is now looking to appoint a large contractor through its national procurement framework and work is expected to resume on the project shortly.

Archaeology and environmental studies will be completed and then work will start on the bund construction during the Summer. The bund is projected to be completed in the Autumn although a temporary flood barrier scheme will need to be in place while roadworks are carried out through the bund later this year.

Harriett said:

“I wrote to the chief executive of the Environment Agency earlier this year sharing my concerns about the lack of progress with the Severn Stoke scheme and sharing the frustrations of local people.

“Last week, I had a detailed chat with the senior managers who are managing this project and they have reassured me that although work has stopped at the moment, it will resume shortly.

“I would like to put on record my thanks to the community for their perseverance and the work already carried out by Chris Prosser’s team to recycle a huge quantity of material from local construction projects- including the Southern Link Road - that would otherwise have gone to landfill.

“Although this was originally a community-led project, the Environment Agency will now use one of its major suppliers to get this scheme over the line and I look forward to seeing the bund construction get underway as soon as possible.

“I hope that this extra £750,000 will mean that work speeds up considerably and I thank the Government Ministers who heard my appeals and made this important cash award.”