Report to cabinet reveals 10 new flood prevention projects
A new report to Lancashire County Council's cabinet reveals details of 10 new projects to tackle problems with flooding.
Councillors are being asked to agree to add the schemes worth over £1.75m to the council's capital programme.
They include £220k of investment to improve management of surface water at Wiswell Brook in Whalley, £200k to complete work in Parbold village as a result of issues identified following the major flooding in 2015, and £600k to identify options to reduce the risk of surface water flooding in Thornton Cleveleys.
The programme includes further schemes in the Ribble Valley and Wyre, as well as projects in Lancaster, Pendle, and South Ribble.
The improvements will mainly be funded by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Grant in Aid capital funding programme, with one project due to be funded by the North West Regional Flood and Coastal Committee's Local Levy.
One of the requirements of the Grant in Aid funding is that projects must receive contributions from local partners, and the county council is due to contribute staff time funded from its revenue budget to support their delivery.
County Councillor Shaun Turner, cabinet member for environment and climate change, said: "We know all too well the devastating impact which flooding can have on people's lives and livelihoods, and these projects are the result of a lot of hard work by our flood risk management team, and partner organisations, to understand the problems and reduce the chance of them happening in future.
"This work is often complex and time-consuming, and no solution can completely remove the risk of flooding, nevertheless this investment of over £1.75m into Lancashire's drainage infrastructure will make a significant difference to communities which have suffered in the past.
"We are always working to improve Lancashire's resilience to flooding, and I look forward to seeing these improvements delivered over the coming months and years."
The report to this week's cabinet meeting on Thursday 20 January outlines that the council is expecting confirmation of the external funding in the near future, however establishing the budgets now will allow the projects to be progressed as quickly as possible once it has been received.