Support for people and businesses affected by flooding

Derbyshire County Council has made £100,000 available to help residents and businesses affected by recent flooding.

Many homes and businesses were affected after persistent rain fell on saturated ground, closing many roads and causing disruption.

The county council has reinstated the Derbyshire Floods Hardship Fund for Residents and the Derbyshire Floods Business Hardship Fund, which were established following floods in November.

Residents who were evacuated or whose homes flooded will be eligible to apply for a one-off payment of £104.

Businesses which employ less than 50 people are eligible to apply for an emergency payment of £300, if their premises were flooded, to help them cope with immediate, short-term loss of income.

Council leader Councillor Barry Lewis said: “We understand the impact that an event like this can have on residents and small businesses.

“We felt it was important to react to this immediately which is why we are offering Derbyshire residents and businesses help to get back on track.

“Having to leave your home due to flooding is extremely distressing and we want to be able to help people who may be in financial difficulty.

“We also want to ensure businesses don’t experience difficulties due to cash flow and we want to help those affected to recover quickly and get back to normal trading as soon as possible.”

To apply for the residents' fund only, people should call the county council’s contact centre Call Derbyshire on 01629 533190.

Call centre staff will be available between 9.30am and 4pm tomorrow (Saturday) to take information, and payments will be made to those who are eligible from 10am on Monday onwards.

To apply for the fund for businesses, firms should visit www.derbyshire.co.uk/flooding, download the application form and email it to Regeneration@derbyshire.gov.uk

Councillor Lewis added: “We will take stock after the waters have receded to see what additional help we can give businesses that may be necessary to ensure the local economy recovers quickly.

“We recognise the impact that events like this have upon jobs and community resilience and we want to ensure that we do all we can to support Derbyshire residents.”

More information on how to report flooding, who is involved in managing flooding risk in Derbyshire and how residents can protect themselves from flooding is available at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/flooding.