South Yorkshire leaders to press government for more flood defences in long-awaited summit
Hundreds were affected back in November
Last updated 8th Oct 2020
South Yorkshire flood victims tell us they fear another deluge this winter if the government doesn't do more to protect our region.
Hundreds of homes and businesses were underwater along the Don last November when the river burst its banks.
A long-awaited summit will take place later where local leaders will push government ministers for more funding to build new defences.
Sandra had a foot of water in her house in Bentley. She was flooded back in 2007 too and remembers last November like it was yesterday:
"It were awful watching it come up because we'd been there before. We didn't have as much notice this time as we did before and it was only when my friend knocked me up at about 8 o'clock and said Sandra, it's coming over..."
We visited her back in November after it had just happened and she was pulling up her floor boards.
Now her house is back to normal after almost ten months of work - she's had the building dried out, a new floor laid, and new carpets and furniture put in. She's had to live upstairs throughout lockdown.
But she counts herself lucky. Many who were flooded are still in temporary accomodation now, almost a year after the flood.
Sandra says coronavirus has made the recovery so much worse:
"Living in it, it's soul destroying. It was awful because of lockdown as well. I lived upstairs - I spent most of my time pottering about as best I could but I couldn't get out to the garden, I couldn't get out to the front
"With lockdown, you couldn't get your furtniture, you were waiting for your stair carpet who said they were coming and then they didn't come. Andd you were like, I want to put my house back. Even when I got it decorated, I still couldn't get my furniture."
Back last November, when the Prime Minister visited Doncaster, he committed to a flood summit where local leaders could discuss defences with the government.
Today, it's finally going ahead.
Sandra feels like Bentley has been forgotten, because it's a working class area:
"Us, we get left all the time. They saved Sheffield and they sent it to us. And that's what they're going to do. I think it'll going to happen for us - I don't think we're out of the woods. And every time we get a lot of heavy rain, then you're thinking god I hope that river's not high.
"As you get older, life gets harder and I don't think I'll be able to go through this again.
"I know it's hard because you can't stop water. But for people like us - we've flooded twice, but we've been near a number of times of it coming over - they've got to do something. Because it's not fair - if it were their home they'd be shouting wouldn't they?"
After the floods in 2007, Sheffield benefitted from millions of pounds worth of new flood defences, but many think other areas along the River Don deserve the same protection.
Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis, who's set up the meeting, wants a plan for the whole catchment:
“I’m pleased the Government has agreed to convene this flooding summit. I’m absolutely clear this must not be a one-off session, followed by a return to business as usual.
"This must be the start of a constructive, ongoing dialogue with Defra and the Environment Agency, so alongside local leaders from across Yorkshire, we see action that keeps families and businesses safe.
“This means closing the funding gap for schemes, developing a strategy for the River Don catchment which includes natural defences, and reforming how the Treasury allocates funding so it truly levels up spending between regions.
“The Government must make a start at the Comprehensive Spending Review, by unlocking funding for shovel-ready schemes which will make vital progress in protecting homes and businesses from harm.”