TENBURY MP Harriett Baldwin received platitudes and a telling off when she raised the need for a flood defence scheme for the town in an adjournment debate in the House of Commons.

Mrs Baldwin has vowed to continue pressing for Tenbury’s permanent flood defences during a debate in parliament.

The MP outlined the scheme which is expected to cost over £5 million in an adjournment debate in Parliament. These enable MPs to raise local issues.

Although it has traditionally been considered unaffordable, Mrs Baldwin has called for the department for the environment, food and rural affairs to earmark funds from a £200 million fund promised at the budget which supports innovative projects.

The MP used the debate to set out plans to reduce costs by using local farmers and accessing other areas of funding including the Local Enterprise Partnership and local authorities.

Responding to the debate, floods minister Rebecca Pow confirmed that the Environment Agency has developed a scheme and agreed to work with the Tenbury community to find innovative solutions to reduce the scheme’s cost.

She confirmed that a recent review of the funding formula has meant that an extra £200,000 being available to fund the scheme.

However, this falls well short of the money that would be needed in order to have an effective flood defence scheme.

The minister said that she was sympathetic but gave no reason to hope that any further Government support would be available.

“The flooding earlier this year across West Worcestershire took a terrible toll and many people are still having to deal with the challenges of being flooded,” said Mrs Baldwin.

“With the Covid-19 pandemic, I was concerned that some of the impetus pressing for funding for Tenbury may get lost, so I pressed on with this adjournment debate to make sure it was firmly on the Government’s agenda.

“The department has confirmed that it is formally looking at ways to fund the scheme to make it deliverable and affordable and I hope that the Environment Agency will now press on with the local consultation process.”

Mrs Baldwin was told off by the deputy speaker for being in contravention of the rules of the house by making a direct appeal to the minister and not directing her comments through the chair. The MP said she was sorry.