Work starts on new £6.2m flood defences for Bewdley

The new flood barriers will cost £6.2m

Work is underway on new flood defences in a Worcestershire town.

The £6.2m scheme will protect an additional 50 properties from the River Severn in Bewdley.

Some business owners have raised concerns about the impact on trade and a number of homeowners are worried that they will be unprotected while the work is carried out.

But the Environment Agency (EA) said people had agreed the new defences would be a "great benefit to the town".

The flooding minister, Rebecca Pow, said the cost was justified, because of a government focus on helping "frequently flooded areas".

"It might not be as many houses as flood in some places, but it's the number of times that those poor communities suffer," she added.

Flooding minister Rebecca Pow said there was a government focus on areas which flooded frequently

Some preparatory work has already started, to move a water main out of the way of the work, and local business owner Warren Hall said: "Trade is well down just after this first fortnight with the bridge being closed."

With the work scheduled to last two years, he said some support was needed.

Clare Dinnis, from the EA, said it would not be possible to carry out the work without any disruption, but people had agreed on the long-term benefits for Bewdley.

Bev Styles said her home had "flooded quite badly" in the past

Bev Styles, who lives in one of the homes that will benefit, said she accepted "for the next two years we're going to be flooded."

But she agreed there would be a long-term gain once the permanent barrier was finished.

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