Defra has announced that the Farming Recovery Fund made available in response to Storm Desmond, which hit earlier this month will be extended to cover farmers across Lancashire and Yorkshire, whose businesses and land were affected by Storm Eva.

Environment secretary Liz Truss made the announcement on Thursday (31st December). Previously, support under the fund had only been available to farmers in Cumbria and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire, however, with three severe storms all causing flooding and damage this month, the fund’s remit has been extended.

The extension of the funding comes after the government unveiled an additional £50 million to help flood victims in the north of England in response to the disruption seen over Christmas.

The decision means grants of up to £20,000 will be made available to farmers across a wider area. RPA, which is administering the fund, has also promised to make use of any flexibility in cross compliance rules and stop carrying out inspections for affected farmers.

The deadline for applications under the fund has now been extended from 18th March 2016 to 1st April 2016 to allow farmers in the newly affected areas time to apply.

Farmers affected by flooding will be able to claim grants of between £500 and £20,000 to cover the cost of restoring their farmland. This includes:

• The restoration of productive stock proof grassland
• The restoration of productive arable and horticultural land
• The restoration of field access or track ways, fencing or gates or water troughs
• The restoration of drainage on flood-damaged holdings
• Damage to agricultural machinery that cannot be insured
• Damage to agricultural buildings that cannot be insured
• Funding would include re-siting or re-location on the basis of improved positioning away from river edges, raising parapets or relocating to a less vulnerable access point in the field.

Farmers who want to apply for the Farming Recovery Fund can find details at GOV.UK/rpa. They can also contact the Rural Services helpline on 03000 200 301.

Potential for more flooding

The Environment Agency has warned that, after Storm Frank brought fresh downpours to northern England, falling on sodden ground and with river levels already extremely high, more flooding is likely in the coming days. Scotland bore the brunt of Storm Frank’s deluges; hundreds of homes were evacuated yesterday and there are flood warnings in force in the North and East of the country.

Though the worst of Storm Frank is thought to have passed, and there are no longer any severe food warnings (danger to life) in force, there are still a number of flood warnings (requiring immediate action) across Wales and throughout western regions of England.

Over the past week, almost 7,000 homes have flooded as rivers burst their banks, following the wettest December on record in some parts. Any further flooding is likely to be the result of river levels continuing to swell due to rain which fell over the past few days, rather than any downpours over the coming days.

The government has come under fire over its preparation for and handling of flooding, and when the Farming Recovery Fund was first unveiled earlier this month Labour MPs claimed that only a small proportion of those affected by severe floods in Somerset last year have received any of the funding promised by ministers at the time.

During a visit to flood-hit York today, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is expected to ask why the Environment Agency has not deployed any of its ten ‘state of the art’ high volume pumps, which were tested in September.

On Thursday, the Met Office announced that December weather had broken records for its mildness and rainfall. Between 1st and 29th December, the mean UK temperatures was a record-breaking 8.0 °C, or 4.1 °C above the long-term average. As well as the heavy rainfall, there has been an almost complete lack of frost across the country.

Scotland (333.1 mm) and Wales (321 mm) recorded record rainfall in December, and though the north-west of England suffered under extremely heavy deluges, the south east and much of the midlands remained closer to average. Scotland has seen the wettest calendar month since records began in 1910, smashing a record set just two years ago.