Flood grants based on ‘obscene postcode lottery’

Hundreds of flooded households will not receive promised compensation funding announced by Boris Johnson because of an ‘obscene postcode lottery’.

The Prime Minister promised that grants of up to £5,000 would be made available for victims of flooding after visiting Fishlake in Yorkshire last November, with the government also announcing another set of payouts of £500 for households and £2,500 for businesses in the run up to the General Election.

However, it has now been revealed that the money is only available to areas on which Johnson focused his attention during a visit in November, as any areas flooded outside the tight time limit of 8-18 November is not eligible for financial support from the government. Furthermore, the payouts are only triggered in areas where more than 25 homes were affected.

Hundreds of householders and businesses have been left with no financial support from government to help them make their homes more resilient to future flooding, after more than 2,000 homes and businesses suffered severe flooding last autumn, predominantly across Yorkshire, but also in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Warwickshire.

As a result of the government restrictions, only about 30 households across the region will get support out of more than 300 households which were badly flooded across the neighbouring English border counties of Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and Herefordshire.

Mary Dhonau, a flood risk consultant, said: “Boris Johnson said everyone that is being flooded would get up to £5,000, but what he didn’t say was that he meant everyone who was flooded between 8 November and 18 November and in a group of 25 houses or more. A flood is a flood, people suffer exactly the same wherever they are, not more in areas which are visited by the Prime Minister.”