2 days Ago By [email protected] (Eloise Gilmore)
More than £120,000 less than last year has been allocated to a council by Government to help cover the increased cost of Internal Drainage Board levies. The grant, which is less than half what the council received last year, has been branded as ‘not going far enough’ to support Newark and Sherwood, which has suffered severe flooding incidents, and council leaders have vowed to continue lobbying Government. Newark and Sherwood District Council pays a £950,000 bill to the Trent Valley and Upper Witham IDBs, having seen an “unsustainable” 40% increase in its overall levy in the last financial year — but has been allocated just £119,000 from the funding pot.
It is a decrease of £120,690 from the £239,690 it received last year, which will need to be made up with the council’s savings if further lobbying doesn’t garner extra funding. The £3million commitment to supporting councils’ rising internal drainage board (IDB) costs was made by the former secretary of state for the department for levelling up, housing and communities, Michael Gove, earlier this year, with the sum to be shared between the 15 most affected councils. Rowan Cozens, deputy leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council said: “We are pleased that our recent lobbying via the Local Government Association Special Interest Group has been successful, and we have finally received a grant allocation for the 2024-25 financial year.
Unfortunately, this is £120,000 less than originally anticipated and, unless more money is forthcoming, this shortfall will need to be funded from our savings. “This is disappointing, but the issue of long-term sustainable funding of Internal Drainage Boards is a much bigger issue that needs to be addressed by Government. I am going to the House of Commons as part of the Special Interest Group on October 8, 2024, again to not only further lobby for a long-term solution but to also ask for additional money to meet the immediate shortfall.
“While the Government has allocated £3million across the UK for 2024-25 financial year, this does not help, it doesn’t go far enough to address the rising costs facing district councils year on year, and in particular it does not help councils like us who are repeatedly affected by flooding. I will continue to lobby Government until there is a solution that takes the annual burden of funding Internal Drainage Boards away from local taxpayers because, quite frankly, it is just not right.”.
