Councils presented with floods bill

Councils are being asked to pay more after the floods

Councils in mid and south Wales are to be told they face an increase of around a third in the amount they will have to pay for flood prevention work following the winter's floods.

Overall in Wales the Environment Agency has put the cost so far of work it will have to do as a result of this flooding at £9.5m.

The Glamorgan Flood Defence Committee is being asked to agree the 35% increase at a meeting in Cardiff on Friday.

But there have been calls for the Welsh Assembly to allocate the money directly to the flood defence committee rather than via the councils.

We should be asking why the capital works money can't come directly from the Assembly, rather than from the councils themselves

Malcolm Jones

The other flood defence committees in Wales have already agreed increases of up to a third in funding following the worst floods for decades.

Many families in north east Wales are still living in hotel accommodations while repair work is carried out.

In north east Wales, where the overall cost of weeks of flooding has been estimated £11, the levy has risen by 13 and a half per cent.

The money will be used to shore up existing flood defences and build new ones.

Just under £0.5m of the increase can be directly attributed to the pre- Christmas flooding.

But Malcolm Jones, Neath and Port Talbot Council's representative on the Glamorgan Flood Defence Committee, said the authorities at Friday's meeting may be looking for a compromise.

"We can only be sympathetic to all those who have suffered in the recent flooding," said Mr Jones.

"But we do have to prioritise our spending."

He said Neath Port Talbot council had already spent the £500, 000 put aside for winter gritting on flooding.

"We should be asking why the capital works money can't come directly from the Assembly, rather than from the councils themselves," he said.