Call for investment in county's flood defences

Parts of Horncastle saw significant flooding during Storm Babet in October

A senior councillor has issued a plea to whoever forms the next government to invest more in flood prevention in Lincolnshire.

It comes after hundreds of homes in the county were flooded and thousands of acres of farmland were left under water in the wake of two named storms.

“We need a greater investment into this area than any government has previously made," said Colin Davie, a Conservative with Lincolnshire County Council.

He was speaking at a meeting of the authority's flood and water management scrutiny committee on Monday.

Mr Davie, executive councillor for economic development, environment and planning, said the authority was dealing with an "unprecedented number" of flood investigations in the aftermath of Storm Babet and Storm Henk.

"[It] is at a scale we have never previously experienced from storm events," he said.

"This has had a devastating impact across the whole of Lincolnshire on individuals, communities, and businesses.

"Whoever’s in charge on July 5 needs to make [investment] an urgent priority."

The councillor also presented the findings from an Environment Agency report for Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire for May, which outlined that both counties had above-average rainfall last month.

It also noted that it had been the wettest September to May period across the counties since records began in 1871, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The fields at Henry Ward's Shortferry Farm, east of Lincoln, were left underwater after flooding earlier this year

Follow BBC Lincolnshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]