Tenbury Wells' flood protection scheme 'paused' due to multi-million pound shortfall

The Environment Agency (EA) plans for Tenbury Wells had been allocated around £17m to help the flood afflicted town.

But, the EA has confirmed that the scheme has been 'paused' because anywhere up to £13m more is needed to complete the plans.

A statement from the organisation said: "Proposals for the scheme, which included walls, embankments and flood gates, were developed by the Environment Agency with partners and the local community.

"Over £17 million had been allocated to the scheme, however following a review of proposals a funding gap of between £8 and £13 million has been identified.

"Alternative ways of increasing community resilience to flooding, including Property Flood Resilience (PFR) measures such as installing flood resistant doors or door barriers, non-return valves and pumps and Natural Flood Management (NFM) options will now be explored."

Marc Lidderth, Environment Agency Area Director, West Midlands, added: “After agreeing what a final design proposal of the scheme would be, the complexity to construct it and its associated costs means that at present it is not possible to progress without securing all of the required funding. 

“Although this is not the position we wanted to be in, we continue to be fully committed to supporting the community of Tenbury Wells in looking at alternative options to help better protect those impacted by flooding.

“We remain open to the possibility of a built scheme in the future if the funding is available and will continue to engage with the local community as we explore other ways to reduce flood risk.”