3,800 homes ‘at risk of flooding’

And Kirklees Council’s own analysis ranks Kirklees as the seventh most at risk local authority throughout the country, excluding London boroughs and county councils.

There are 3,280 homes at risk in Dewsbury, with 2,598 deemed to be at significant risk. In Batley and Spen, 596 homes are at risk from flooding, with 213 at significant risk.

The data, collected by Friends of the Earth, follows weeks of flooding across the south of England. The organisation said the government is spending £500m less on flood defences than is required to keep pace with climate change.

At a Kirklees Council meeting last week, flooding expert Tom Ghee said 15 per cent of households in Kirklees were at risk of flooding from river, minor watercourses and surface water.

Batley and Spen MP Mike Wood said: “Local people should be very worried by the announcement from the head of the UK Statistics Agency who said that is a fact that public spending on tackling flooding between 2011 and 2015 is £247m less than it was in the preceding four years.

“This is on top of the massive job cuts the government has planned for the Environment Agency. This is a very troubling approach to such a serious and devastating problem.”

Dewsbury and Mirfield MP Simon Reevell raised questions about the accuracy of the £500m figure. He also pointed out that it was not clear how the number of ‘at risk’ properties had been calculated. “I wouldn’t want 2,598 families thinking they are at risk of flooding,” he added.

“But the sensible point is that if this news about flooding doesn’t tell people in local authorities not to build on flood plains, what will?”