Aug 2 2007
Flood Recovery Minister John Healey today announced the Government’s intention to lodge an application to the European Commission for support from the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) to help recovery from the recent flooding in the UK.
Government has already announced over £46 million for flood-hit areas as well as more support through the special Bellwin scheme. This application is subject to meeting the eligibility criteria set out by the European Commission. If successful we would expect resources to be available in nine to twelve months time.
The aim of the EUSF is to help Member States meet the uninsurable costs of dealing with natural disasters, for example, supporting the costs of emergency services, cleaning up and putting infrastructure back into working order.
John Healey made clear the Government will put together the strongest case possible for additional funding for local communities, with the Commission making final decisions on whether countries will qualify. We are still assessing the extent of the damage caused in both the June and July floods - we are making the application now to ensure we would get any money as soon as possible.
For the application to be successful, the technical criteria set out by the EU state the total amount of damage caused by a natural disaster has to exceed £2.2billion.
The Commission do not provide full funding for the cost of the damage. They would only provide a proportion of the costs which they decide - insurers will also have a key role to play as well as central government, local government, industry and other agencies playing their part as well.
John Healey MP said:
“As part of the cross-Government work to support flood-hit communities get back on their feet I can confirm we are working on an application for funding from the EU Solidarity Fund. As a member of the EU we intend to exercise our right for support from the Solidarity Fund which was set up specifically to help countries that have experienced extensive damage from natural disasters such as the recent floods.
“We have already announced over £46million of support for flood-hit areas and there will be more support through the special Bellwin scheme.
“I can also confirm that we’ve had constructive official-level discussions with the European Commission in which they’ve indicated that we can make a single application covering both the June and July floods.
“The final decision will rest with the Commission but we will make the strongest possible case. As part of this we are continuing to carry out assessments of costs with those areas affected by the June floods and stand ready to do the same with areas hit by the more recent floods.
“Clearly those areas that are currently flooded need time to deal with more immediate practical concerns before reviewing the scale and cost of overall damage. The top priority has been safeguarding life and property and some areas are only now starting to move into the recovery phase.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to help life return to normal as quickly as possible in local communities and believe this application can play a part in this. A successful EU application would be a useful addition to the package of support we’re already putting in place - this European bid is however only one part of our efforts to support flood-hit communities.”