Ribble Valley: Call for action on flood defences

Several properties in Whalley were evacuated and people rescued on boats during floods in 2020

Action is needed on flood defences in parts of Lancashire where nothing has been done since a storm four years ago, councillors have said.

Ribble Valley councillor Mark Hindle said Whalley and Billington needed relatively modest flood defences, but that the Environment Agency (EA) has been inactive since 2020's Storm Ciara.

People were rescued from their homes by boat in Whalley during that flood.

The EA said it was spending £5.6bn nationally over six years.

Mr Hindle and Lancashire County Council councillor for Ribble Valley North East Ged Mirfin said four years had passed since the major floods in February 2020 and two years since they met EA officers for talks.

They want flood defence plans designed by the Billington and Whalley Flood Action Group to be built.

Whalley and Billington were also hit by Boxing Day floods in 2015.

County councillor Ged Mirfin said it feels like Whalley is "at the end of a long chain of priorities"

The councillors said the EA accounts appeared to show it had unallocated reserves totalling over £10bn and a general reserve of £836m.

Tory councillor Mr Mirfin said: "Whalley's needs are small in comparison to much larger schemes in other parts of the country.

"Around £20m is more than adequate to deliver the safety and assurance that Whalley and Billington require, and to reassure the growing number of residents who have approached us."

Mr Hindle added: "It is a deeply frustrating to know purse strings are controlled by the Environment Agency and being held tightly-closed.

"Whalley feels like it is at the end of a long chain of priorities."

The councillors said they expected to hold a public meeting on the issue soon.

Councillor Mark Hindle says Whalley and Billington need "relatively modest flood defences"

An EA spokesman said: "For Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management, we are now in the third year of the current six-year £5.6bn investment programme.

"In the first two years we have invested more than £1.5bn to better protect more than 60,000 homes and businesses.

"We will continue to deliver all projects that have already been announced and develop the pipeline of future projects; delivering them as fast as capacity and funding allows."