West Worcestershire MP Dame Harriett Baldwin has called for renewed efforts to deliver a permanent flood protection scheme for Severn Stoke.

Dame Harriett met with the chief executive of the Environment Agency to repeat her support for the scheme, and she was briefed on a plan which should see the scheme built next Spring.

The MP formally asked Worcestershire County Council to take over the project after the Environment Agency failed to find a contractor to carry out the project.

The county council already has a contractor in place which will be used to raise the road through the new bund when if it built.

The Environment Agency team has pledged to confirm the details of the project build next month with the intention of constructing the scheme early next year.

Dame Harriett said:

“The Severn Stoke project has had many false dawns but I am hopeful that this time, both the Environment Agency and Worcestershire County Council are aligned to get spades in the ground next year.

“I had a constructive meeting with the chief executive of the Agency who took the time to update me on the challenges delivering both the schemes in Severn Stoke and Tenbury Wells.

“Both schemes remain firmly on my list of priorities and I am looking forward to the Environment Agency’s update on the Severn Stoke plan early in October.

“Severn Stoke is inevitably going to flood again but I am confident that the relevant bodies are now motivated to work together to get the bund built next year.”