Deputy leader of South Holland District Council Paul Redgate issues appeal to help fight for fair funding for Internal Drainage Board as Government fails to commit to honour Conservative party’s £3million promise

Residents are being urged to support the fight for fairer funding for the bodies which prevent the area from flooding - as the Government has not yet agreed to honour a £3million promise from its predecessors.

Deputy leader of South Holland District Council Paul Redgate is putting out a call to arms to ask residents to reinforce the need for the Government to look at how internal drainage boards (IDBs) are funded - after previously warning that authorities will be facing ‘tough decisions’ on services.

He is now asking people to write to MP Sir John Hayes to ask him to put forward arguments to Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, to look at how these services are funded.

High energy costs, wetter weather conditions along with wage rises are behind an average 28% increase in costs for IDBs since 2022-23, according to the Press Association.

The Government has not committed to honour a pledge made by the previous Conservative Government in January to give £3 million to support councils ‘experiencing the biggest pressures’ with IDBs.

The Tories never coughed up this cash in the run-up to the general election in May and Sir John is now investigating why this money never appeared after former minister Simon Hall had previously promised him that the area was getting a share.

The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) says that it is holding talks with councils IDBs and recognises the financial pressure experienced by all public bodies due to rising costs and the impact this has on farmers.

But it says that IDBs are ‘responsible for delivering their statutory duties, finding an acceptable balance between their workplan and annual charges’. It also stated that farmers are beneficiaries of the IDB work and they are represented on the boards who make decisions on work programmes, drainage rates and special levies.

A DEFRA spokesperson said: “Protecting communities around the country from flooding is an absolute priority for this Government, which is why we will be launching a Flood Resilience Taskforce to turbocharge the delivery of flood defences, drainage systems and natural flood management schemes.

“The government will also take steps to ensure we are building more high-quality, well-designed, and sustainable homes and creating places that increase climate resilience and promote nature recovery.

But Coun Redgate feels that it is unfair for tax payers in South Holland to be paying for water, which generates in central England, to be pumped out to sea or face flooding.

SHDC increased its share of the council tax earlier this year and leader Coun Nick Worth warned that that the £268,000 extra income would be ‘wiped out’ by the money needed by the internal drainage boards — with ratepayers bearing the burden to spiralling costs.

Coun Redgate has been leading a ‘special interest group’ of councils which are affected by the internal drainage board levies and had written to Labour front benchers in the run-up to the election about this issue.

He said: “Our aim is to fundamentally have a proper long-term sustainable funding mechanism that deals with IDBs and how they operate.

“The work they do cannot be under-estimated but the burden is falling on local council tax payers. It doesn’t feel fair or equitable that the local tax payers are paying for the pumping of water that comes from central England.

“This is not about a programme of work - this is fundamental. The pumps at Pode Hole were operating for six months - which they were not designed to. The operation use of these pumps is going to be exacerbated in terms of climate change.

“I would call on every single resident in South Holland and every single council within the special interest group to write to their local MP to get them to write to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister to call on them to take action.”

Greater Lincolnshire produces 30% of the nation’s food – with much of that passing through South Holland, which is well-known for its food manufacturing and logistics.

Leader of South Holland Independents, Coun Rob Gibson, said urgent action is needed to look at the funding of IDBs.

He said: “When you look at the finances for South Holland, we are not in a good place. We are in the better place than some but we are having to dip into reserves to break even.

“We need a fairer funding model for our local government. I think we are under funded. Money needs to move out of London to districts like ours.”

Coun Gibson said of the £3million: “Lots of things are said before a General Election that don’t appear. I am hoping that we can hold people to account.”

Innes Thomas, Chief Executive of the Association of Drainage Associations, said: “All of our IDBs are working hard at driving efficiencies to ensure that the money they have is able to continue the level of service expected and required by local communities, in the face of rising costs.

“The work of IDBs contributes to national environmental, social and economic wellbeing and therefore national government might be reasonably expected to contribute to the work of IDBs alongside landowner/farmer and local council ratepayers.”

If you can write to MP Sir John Hayes at 24-25 Westlode Street, Spalding, PE11 2AF or you can email hayesj@parliament.uk or davieshm@parliament.uk

Do you think an unfair burden has been placed on South Holland council tax payers? Post a comment below…