No Flood Damage Assistance from Government?
The Government’s Flood Recovery Framework gives power to DLUHC (the Department of Levelling Up. Communities and Housing) to allocate grants and business relief to residents and business owners impacted by flooding related to severe weather. Hastings was probably the worst-flooded town in the UK last month.
Yet Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, has apparently decreed that only damage sustained during the onset of Storm Babet between 18 and 21 October will be treated as coming within the scheme. The severe storm which hit Hastings the following weekend and submerged the town centre in water overflows for the second time in ten months has so far been overlooked.
The scheme, if applicable, would offer flooded households up to £500 each and affected small-to-medium sized business up to £2,500 each towards recovery costs, with further grants of up to £5,000 available by way of Property Flood Resilience repair grants for increasing protection against future flooding.
John Bownas, manager of Love Hastings, which represents businesses in the town centre, said he hopes the exclusion of Hastings from the scheme has been “a simple oversight”. He has written to Mr Gove asking him to extend the eligibility dates.
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