§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will ensure that the plans by South Somerset District Council for a Merriott flood alleviation scheme (phase 2) receive early approval from(a) her Department and (b) the Environment Agency to enable it to qualify for funding available before 31 March; and if she will make a statement.[155107]
§ Mr. MorleyFollowing the significant flooding in autumn 2000, the Department agreed to consider special cases supported by the Environment Agency (EA) HQ for particularly deserving river defence schemes that did not achieve the priority score threshold for Defra funding. Such schemes still had to meet the other basic criteria for funding. For special case consideration, EA HQ identified criteria that were then not reflected fully in the priority scoring system. On that basis, they supported a number of special cases that the Department accepted in July 2001. Much of the special case criteria was incorporated into the revised priority scoring system that came into effect in April 2003. When notifying details of 2003–04 allocations to flood defence operating authorities in February 2003, officials indicated that, given special cases were identified as urgent following the autumn 2000 floods, the Department would not expect to extend special treatment beyond 2003–04.
351WI understand that the South Somerset District Council is urgently seeking the necessary consents from the Environment Agency and English Nature and will then submit an application. The Department will consider the application as swiftly as possible.