Lancashire town's flood defence funding 'axed'

Victoria Street in Earby was submerged in the Boxing Day floods of 2015

About £2.5m of funding for a flood alleviation scheme in Lancashire has been axed, according to a council leader.

Pendle Council's David Whipp said he had been notified by phone and email that Earby would no longer receive the money through the government's "frequently flooded communities" programme.

The Liberal Democrat councillor said: "The impact of flooding is devastating and something no-one ever wants to see repeated."

The Environment Agency has not yet responded to the BBC's request for comment.

Pendle Council leader David Whipp described the lack of funding as a "bombshell" for people in Earby

News of the scheme's cancellation emerged before this week's meeting of the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee.

Under it, the government's allocation of Grant in Aid for Earby has been reduced to zero.

In the floods of 26 December 2015, Earby saw 43 houses and 27 businesses flooded.

Since then, £5.5m has been invested in flood barriers.

The money has come from a combination of funding from Pendle Council, Westminster and the European Union.

Whipp said: "We're still vulnerable to flooding from Wentcliffe Beck - the cancelled project would have plugged the last gap in our defences.

"We are two-thirds of the way through a £200,000 feasibility study that would have produced a full business case for our flood defence scheme - unless we can get a change of heart on the funding, it looks like that work will be left on the shelf, and maybe never implemented."

Whipp said he believed "overpromising and underfunding" was to blame for the funding being stopped.

He has called on the Pendle and Clitheroe MP Jonathan Hinder to raise the issue in Parliament.