Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's press release, entitled flood scheme boost with £36 million of funding, published on 27 March 2018, what criteria was used for determining the 25 flood schemes that will receive an allocation of that funding; and for what reasons schemes in Bury did not meet that criteria.

The criteria for the allocation of the £36 million required each scheme to be a new project that could be completed in the next 3 years.

The schemes needed to either generate sufficient benefits in term of reduced flood risk to qualifying for 100% funding or have a high confidence of securing any partnership contributions needed.

Schemes proposed in the Bury area fell under the following two categories and were therefore not eligible for funding from the £36 million allocation.

1. The schemes were either already part of the Environment Agency programme and are already receiving funding. This money was specifically aimed at bringing new schemes into the programme.

2. The potential new schemes associated with Bury that are currently sitting outside the current programme of work were not able to be accelerated to deliver and protect homes before 2021 as per the criteria for this funding.