TENBURY'S flood defences will be raised in a House of Commons debate.

West Worcestershire MP Dame Harriett Baldwin has pledged to keep the pressure on the Government to commit to funding flood defence schemes in Tenbury Wells and Severn Stoke.

The MP raised her concerns in the House of Commons today (July 18) and she plans to press the matter in a debate scheduled for next week.

Dame Harriett has campaigned for the Tenbury flood defences since 2007 and she secured Government funding for the scheme in 2020 but the scheme is still being developed before it is submitted for planning approval.

The Tenbury scheme was supported as part of a £5.2 billion national fund to build flood defences alongside schemes already completed in Upton-upon-Severn, Kempsey, Pershore, Powick and Uckinghall.

Last March, the MP secured an extra £2.5 million to help with rising costs to enable the Tenbury scheme to move forward but it is still awaiting a final design for approval by planners.

The MP also secured funding for a permanent flood bund in Severn Stoke, with an additional £750,000 committed by the Government last year, but that scheme has also stalled, while the Environment Agency sources the correct material to build the defences.

Dame Harriett flagged her concerns during questions to Leader of the House Lucy Powell, who pledged to share the Government’s plans for funding current schemes.

The Government will also need to formally respond to an adjournment debate that Dame Harriett will hold in the House of Commons next week where she will be able to question a Minister on plans to progress the two outstanding schemes in West Worcestershire.

Dame Harriett said: “It is frustrating that the schemes for Tenbury Wells and Severn Stoke both appear to have stalled I fear that a new Government may choose to spend money in different ways.

“I remain fully committed to pressing for both schemes and I took my first opportunity to speak in the House of Commons under this new leadership to get answers about future flood defence funding.

“Over the coming weeks, I hope to get some answers from the Government to reassure local people that the schemes will continue to be supported and in parallel, I am trying to get a meeting in the diary with the Environment Agency chief executive to see what he can do to speed up this important work.”