Calderdale Council has just launched a new repair and renew grant scheme, to provide grants of up to £5,000 to home owners, businesses and communities that were flooded. The grants are TO IMPLEMENT FLOOD RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE MEASURES to minimise the impact of any future floods. They will NOT provide funding support for general repairs.

For more information, please read on.

All applications must come with the recommendations of a competent surveyor. As part of your grant application you can claim up to £500 retrospectively to cover the costs of the survey.

You can find more information and an application form here – scroll down the page to the section on the Repair and Renew Grant Scheme. This has info on the scheme, and links so you can download the eligibility criteria and the application form. Or call Calderdale Council on 01422 288001.

Paper copies will be available at the flood relief hubs from Monday 11 Jan. These hubs are open during normal weekday hours and are now at:

• The Customer First Area, Todmorden Community College, Burnley Road, Todmorden OL14 7BX (Tel: 01706 548100) (Sat & Sun opening 10am-4pm)
• Sowerby Leisure Centre, Station Road HX6 3AB (Closed at the weekend)
• The Countryside Office above the Mytholmroyd library HX7 5HR, tel 01422 886371 (Saturday and Sunday opening 1 – 3pm)
  
• Woodman Works, South Lane, Elland HX5 0PA (Saturday and Sunday opening 9am – 5pm)

If you are a business or a community group and your premises have been affected, please complete the grant application form and email it to: business@calderdale.gov.uk.

If your home was affected please email your completed application form to floodfundingteam@calderdale.gov.uk.

Alternatively completed forms can be posted to: Repair and Renew Grant Application, Northgate House, Northgate, Halifax, HX1 1UN

The grant is to flood-proof homes and business and community group buildings

Home owners and businesses can claim up to £5,000 for work that will help to protect buildings against future flooding. This can be for work which will help to reduce flood damage, or which will make it easier to clean up and dry out a home or business afterwards.  This could include installing removable cupboards, self-closing airbricks and non-return valves, replacing wooden floors with polished concrete or tiles and using water resistant mortar and lime based plaster when doing repairs.

Cllr Tim Swift, Calderdale Council leader, warns that flood-proofing buildings is not a one- size-fits-all kind of thing:

“This can be a complex area; what works for some buildings might not be the best solution for others, so please do contact us for advice on this and on how to make a claim.”

Also, check out National Flood Forum guidance to find appropriate suppliers and resilience/ resistance measures for the nature of flooding in your area. Where appropriate, the Council recommends that homeowners and businesses use products that carry the BSI Kite mark for flood protection products (PAS1188) or similar standards.

The £5k flood proofing grants can also be used for public work such as barriers to car parks, or combined into shared community resilience schemes.  These often have a bigger impact than work on separate buildings, especially in residential areas.

Community groups that want to club together their individual £5K grants for a community scheme need to first call Calderdale Council’s Home Improvement Service (tel 01422 392474) to discuss eligibility.

Council staff are now investigating where community schemes might work and how these can be designed. There are many examples of work to protect buildings against floods and case studies showing how communities have worked together on schemes on the National Flood Forum website www.nationalfloodforum.org.uk.

Updated 10 Jan with more info about: the need for a survey, national flood forum guidance and getting community applications advice from the Council’s Home Improvement Service.