Paused flood defence scheme divides opinion
BBCPlans for a new flood defence scheme in Tenbury Wells have been paused due to a funding shortfall.
A wall on Market Street ruptured and collapsed from the force of floodwater in the Kyre Brook in November.
The Environment Agency (EA) allocated more than £17m to the scheme, which included walls, embankments and floodgates, but a funding gap of between £8m and £13m has since been identified and plans have been put on hold.
But Louise Maddryn Preston, the owner of pottery painting shop Pitter Potter, said the delay was a relief as she believed better options could be adopted.
"What we don't need is some kind of big wall built around Tenbury Wells [because], as demonstrated, it can be knocked down.
"What we do need are natural flood defences, [as] as with those in action, they're known to work pretty quickly and the flooding will be reduced.
Worcestershire County Council"I don't think putting lots of time, effort and money into hard defences will actually help because they are made for now and not really effective in the long term," she said.
The EA said it was committed to protecting those affected by flooding, but Richard Sharman, owner of florist Garland Flowers, said the news was a disappointment.
"It's like we've been left forgotten. We keep having these meetings with the environmental officers and they don't give us any answers.
"The minute you hear forecasts of heavy rain for a week, you think, here we go again," he said.
The EA's area director for the West Midlands, Marc Lidderth, said it became clear when finalising the design of the scheme that the "complexity to construct it and its associated costs means that at present [it was]... not possible to progress without securing all of the required funding"
"Although this is not the position we wanted to be in, we continue to be fully committed to supporting the community of Tenbury Wells in looking at alternative options to help better protect those impacted by flooding", he said.
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