Assembly agrees to floods aid

Councils will get aid to help the flooding clear up

The National Assembly has announced it will provide extra funding for flood victims across Wales through the Bellwin formula.

Finance and Local Government Minister Edwina Hart said local councils would be eligible for grants of 100% like their counterparts in England.

It had been feared that councils in Wales would only get up to 85% of their costs paid back.

The money is available to help cover costs not met by insurance or capital expenditure.

Edwina Hart: Welcome news for councils

Local authorities must now apply to the assembly for assistance.

The money is on top of the £3m announced by Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy to help improve flood defences.

Mrs Hart said it was too soon to assess the full cost of the damage but that the costs would be significant and were beyond the level councils could reasonably be expected to find from their own resources.

Environment Minister Sue Essex said added that a full and comprehensive review of the problems was required from the Environment Agency.

Local authorities in north and mid Wales had been faced with bills running into millions of pounds for flood damage.

Denbighshire expects to face a final bill of £1.5m, Flintshire Council could have to pay around £1m, while Powys expects to pay around £500,000.

The cost includes repairing damage to roads and bridges, clearing up landslips and paying workers around the clock to put out sandbags.

Once flooding subsides, the celaring up begins

Wrexham Council - which has had to deal with serious flooding problems at Bangor-on-Dee - is not yet able to give a figure but it too is expecting a large bill.

Wrexham has said it will apply to the National Assembly for Wales for grant aid once flooding in the area has cleared and the authority is able to assess the total cost of the operation.

Representations to the assembly have already been made calling for the flooding situation in affected areas of Wrexham county borough - including Bangor-on-Dee and Rossett - to be treated as an emergency.

Lost crops

The authority said it is currently expected to pay the first £250,000 of any emergency funding and would then only receive an 85% grant for spending above that amount.

Meanwhile, farming unions are to ask for government aid after the floods destroyed thousands of pounds worth of crops.

"The effect of the availability of cereals for next year is a major problem as is the availability of straw for this year," said National Farmers' Union president Hugh Richards.