Shropshire MP calls for rural support as county hit by floods
North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has called on the Labour Government to take urgent action to support rural communities and farmers devastated by recent flooding.
Helen is the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Flooding and Flooded Communities and is working with MPs of all parties to push the Government for better flooding preparedness.
Speaking in the House of Commons, the MP highlighted the severe impact of flooding on her constituency, where prolonged rainfall and river overflows have left villages cut off and large swathes of farmland submerged.
The MP pressed the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to review how flooding funding is allocated and ensure farmers are compensated for the role their land plays in holding back water upstream.
Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, asked the Minister:
“I'm the chair of the Flooding and Flooded Communities All Party Group.
“Large areas of North Shropshire are often underwater, either from river flooding or from prolonged rainfall, and this weekend has been no exception, with villages cut off for long periods of time and vast swathes of farmland flooded.
“This year there were farmers who have been unable to plant crops in the current harvest that's just been collected and are also not going to be able to next year. They're in a desperate state.
“Will the Secretary of State, when he reviews the flooding formula and the funding, consider how farmers are going to be compensated for the fact that they are storing vast quantities of water upstream, whether they like it or not?”
Steve Reed MP, Secretary of State for DEFRA, replied:
“Thank you for the question, and of course, we can take that into account when we're looking at the flooding formula. But I'm sure she will welcome, as I do, the additional £60 million made available in the budget for farmers who have been affected by the severe levels of flooding experienced earlier in the year.”
