MP seeks another £500 million to tackle River Seven flooding
Senior government officials will visit Shropshire later this year to hear the case for an extra £500 million in funding to tackle flooding problems.
Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, arranged a meeting with senior civil servants which was also attended by Mark Barrow of Shropshire Council.
Mr Barrow is also chairman of the River Severn Partnership, which was formed to tackle problems relating to the 180-mile river in its entirety.
Mr Kawczynski, who formed a 'caucus' of MP representing constituencies along the length of the River Severn, is calling for an extra £500 million in government funding for flood defences, on top of the £4.5 billion secured two years ago.
Officials from the Treasury and the Department for the Environment have now agreed to visit Shrewsbury for further talks in September.
Mr Kawczynski said he considered flooding to be biggest barrier to Shrewsbury's economic development.
He said that in the short term three schemes were planned to tackle localised problems in Coton Hill, Coleham, and the town centre.
But more importantly, he said, there needed to be a plan to tackle flooding problems collectively across the River Severn as a whole.
He said that if successful, the plan could be a template for rivers around the world to follow.
Mr Kawczynski said: "In the past, the response has been localised schemes which just push the problem downstream and leave it for someone else to deal with.
"If we can find a way to deal with flooding problems holistically, covering the whole of the river, this could not just benefit the UK but could have great export potential.
"One of the huge challenges we face is climate change, and flooding is a major problem around the world."
A "business case" for the proposals will now be prepared, which should be ready to go before Treasury officials early autumn.
Mr Barrow said he was delighted that the proposals to tackle flooding had been positively received.
"Everyone we have met in government has given their support and is encouraging us to further develop our proposals, not only in the upper Severn between Shrewsbury and Wales but across the catchment as whole,” he said.
