A permanent flood protection being designed for Severn Stoke is making vital behind-the-scenes progress following a meeting hosted by West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin. The local flood action group met up with experts from the Environment Agency last week to discuss progress on the proposals, which will see bunds and flood gates constructed to protect the village and the vital A38. Technical experts carried out survey at the site last year and the community is now ready to move forward with the scheme. Harriett has championed the scheme and had held a series of meeting with the community group, the Environment Agency and the land owners to agree a plan of action. Harriett commented: "The scheme is making progress and it was really helpful to get everyone in one room to agree the best way to proceed. "The scheme requires the use of private land so there has been a lot of work collaborating with the land owners to get the right scheme in place. "The group has also been working with the district and county council flood teams and the formal plans will soon be published. "The community has also had offers of free soil from some of the major housing developments and construction projects going on around Worcestershire so the timing is perfect to get the ball rolling. "I am enormously pleased that the Flood Action Group is working so hard to drive this project forward and grateful for the support which the Environment Agency is putting in to guide them. "Severn Stoke is one of the two major flood defence projects currently outstanding in West Worcestershire and as this one drives forward, I will continue to lobby for an agreed solution for Tenbury Wells." Photo: Experts from the Environment Agency met with the local Flood Action Group and Harriett Baldwin MP in Severn Stoke last week (Friday January 12)