Four months after the devastating flooding which hit the City on 26th and 27th December 2015, details are only now emerging of how the £1.3 million York Disaster (Flood) Fund is being spent.
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Although most affected residents and businesses have now moved back into their flood hit properties, it appears that only £160,000 has been paid out to victims.
Most of the money – which includes matching funding from the government – has come from charitable trusts with the rest coming from corporate donations, individual gifts and fund raising.
The Fund’s administrators – the Two Ridings Community Foundation – have now published a FAQ summary on their web site.
The posting (right) explains who can apply, for what, and also reveals that making vulnerable buildings watertight (more resilient) could qualify for grant aid (on top of the £5000 already announced by the Council) while damage to vehicles and outbuildings won’t be funded.
Application forms can be downloaded via this link http://www.trcf.org.uk/
Meanwhile the Council has still not revealed details of when its Inquiry into the flooding will start (or even who the members of the Inquiry team will be).
Clearly a report – and most importantly action arising from its conclusions – is still several months away.
The one piece of good news is that the Environment Agency have announced details of additional flood prevention work that they intend to do in the City over the next few years.
A meeting earlier in the week heard that extra investment would include:
- £45m additional funding for work in York which will see around 15 schemes at different locations throughout York to upgrade raised defences and provide a consistent standard of protection for the City. This will better protect over 2,000 properties.
- This is in addition to the £10m that has already been committed for repairs and upgrades to the Foss Barrier where work is planned to start in early April and be complete by December 2017.
Members of City of York Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee will receive a report about the performance of care services in the city at their meeting next week (26 April).
Sat 23 Apr
Please join us throughout the day for a riotous celebration of the joy of reading. Full details to be confirmed, but here are some tasters:
In this session, we’ll show you how to get started with the Explore e-Library, downloading e-books and audio-books for free and the best ways to enjoy books on your mobile device.
Chris Killen’s second novel is a triangular love story set at a time when the internet is always with you – at once offering to play Cupid, and wreak havoc… ultimately, it’s the un-glamour of the internet, and the un-romance of real real life, that Killen is interested in showing.