Farmers in the East call for more support to prevent flooding
It comes after heavy rain last week saw some isolated flooding
A group that represents farmers in Norfolk and Suffolk tells us the Environment Agency needs more support so it can better prevent flooding and minimise the damage it causes to agriculture.
It comes after heavy rain last week saw some isolated flooding and disruption to public transport across East Anglia.
Last year the region was also severely impacted by flooding, and there are concerns that extreme weather will once again affected agricultural businesses.
"More support for the Environment Agency"
Charles Hesketh is the National Farmers Union's East representative.
He told us he knows that there are some schemes in place to help farmers, but it's been a slow process in accessing the help: "There's the farming resilience fund, which is a packet of measures to support those affected by flooding early last year but we're waiting on a few more further details in terms of if any farmers in our region have been able to access that support."
Charles then explained that there are policies in place at the moment but they want the Environment Agency to have more support so measures can be put in place, so that if they face more extreme weather, such as flooding they're prepared and the amount of damage wouldn't be as significant:
"It's about... making sure we have the right investment to be able to deal with this if we're going to see more extremes of flood and drought.
"We have to be equipped with the right funding investment resources to cope with these more extreme weather patterns.
"...Our key ask around flooding is for more support for the Environment Agency to be able to deal with these issues to be able to maintain rivers and work with farmers."
With the Labour government taking over from the Conservatives in July 2024, Charles is hoping this will provide a "new opportunity" to establish relationships and continue discussions.
Charles says many of those discussions are taking place at a senior level and what he has gathered from colleagues is that they seem to be in a "relatively good place" but there's still more to be done.
What is the Government doing on this?
The Government says the new 'Floods Resilience Taskforce'- set-up this month- will turbocharge flood defences development and bolster the resilience to extreme weather.