Communities Secretary Greg Clark has announced £50 million extra funding that will be available immediately to local authorities to help them support households and businesses affected by the weekend’s devastating floods in Northern England.

This extends the total level of support now pledged by the government for the winter floods to over £100 million, as part of a streamlined approach to ensure households and businesses can get the support they need as quickly as possible.

Mr Clark also confirmed that the Bellwin scheme, already activated following storm Desmond, would be extended to those councils impacted by storm Eva over Christmas.

The Bellwin scheme compensates authorities for the exceptional costs incurred in incidents such as flooding. Authorities are eligible for costs under Bellwin when they have spent more than 0.2% of their calculated annual revenue budgets on works. It means councils will be able to apply to have 100% of their costs above the threshold reimbursed through the scheme.

Measures the money will help to address include:

• supporting people as they protect their homes against future floods by providing grants of up to £5000, so they can install new flood barriers, replace doors and windows with water resistant alternatives, or move electricity sockets up to a safer level
• ensuring flood affected businesses that have had their trading disrupted can get back on their feet, with funding provided to local authorities to help business affected alongside funding specifically provided for farmers to help restore their land.

The Community Recovery Scheme was launched in the wake of storm Desmond, and is run by local authorities to ensure funding is delivered quickly and efficiently to provide targeted support. The first payments were made in a matter of days to councils in the affected areas.

Communities across Cumbria and Yorkshire are being warned to prepare for further significant flooding from today through to Friday 1 January.

With further heavy rain today across Northern England and with the ground still saturated and river levels at record highs, there is the potential for further significant flooding, especially in Cumbria.

York’s Foss Barrier is now operational following emergency work and flood waters in the city are receding, although levels are expected to rise again later in the week. Environment Agency operational staff and the army worked around the clock to get the Foss Barrier pumps repaired after high river levels flooded the pump room and affected the power system. A Chinook helicopter was used to drop portable power generators onto the barrier’s roof on Monday.

Craig Woolhouse, Director of Incident Management at the Environment Agency, said:

“The weather continues to be hugely challenging, with more rain threatening to cause further flooding in Cumbria and Yorkshire on Wednesday and through to Friday. We urge communities and visitors, particularly in Cumbria to prepare and not to walk or drive through flood water.”

“The public should continue to listen to and co-operate with the emergency services, particularly those in the areas where severe flood warnings have been issued.”