Derbyshire will not receive any government money towards £20million flood damage bill, claims council leader

In January the authority announced that it had asked central government to compensate it for the full £20 million in damages it had identified to roads, bridges and other infrastructure following November’s deluge.

Now Cllr Barry Lewis, leader of the Conservative-run county council has said the government has ‘refused’ to compensate it for any of the damage caused.

Matlock, where the county council is based, was particularly badly hit in November, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson making a visit, declaring at the time that it was not an “emergency”.

The identified £20 million in damages was also not thought to be the total cost of damages, just those that could be identified rapidly – with more to surface through the winter months.

The council’s entire annual budget for road maintenance is £17.5 million.

More damage has been caused to the county since November through Storms Ciara and Dennis.

Cllr Lewis said: “We are not very happy. You can’t give local authorities the clear message you are going to support them and then turn your back on them.”

However, when asked if the government had refused compensation and if so, why, a Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We are aware that a number of authorities have reported damage to highway infrastructure over winter. We will respond to requests for funding shortly.”

When asked if this meant that Cllr Lewis was incorrect to say the government had refused compensation, the spokesperson said: “We haven’t responded to any requests for funding yet.”

Recent weeks have seen towns and villages throughout Derbyshire flood repeatedly, with some areas seeing their highest river levels for 20 years.

In total, 120 miles of Derbyshire’s roads were damaged by November’s floods. There were seven landslips, damage was caused to 25 highway structures such as bridges and retaining walls and nearly 13,500 gullies were believed to be clogged.

A council report had said: “The unseen damage through the shortening of the life of assets is concerning and will affect Derbyshire’s budgets for many years to come.”

Immediate work to make repairs to roads around the county was well under way and the first phase was to cost £600,000 – purely for post-event emergency work.

Following November’s floods, which affected hundreds of Derbyshire residents and businesses, Cllr Lewis said the upheaval was “unequivocally” linked to climate change.