Hull makes late bid for road repair cash after MP's appeal

Diana Johnson MP today welcomed Hull City Council's deadline day bid for Government money to help repair damage done to the city's roads in the June 2007 floods.

The Government's emergency funding scheme covers the bulk of capital works needed, estimated at £1.2 million in Hull, to repair roads damaged by flooding. Sheffield City Council was last November awarded £6.3 million under the scheme.

The deadline for Hull to make an application for this Government assistance was last Friday (13 June).

The late funding bid follows previous statements from Hull City Council claiming that the authority had been told that Hull was "ineligible" for funding under the scheme. This assertion was disputed by the Department of Transport.

On 14 May Diana Johnson MP wrote to Hull City Council's Chief Executive to urge the local authority to submit a bid before the deadline.

Diana is publishing her full correspondence with Transport Minister Rosie Winterton MP, in which the Minister encourages Hull to submit a bid, on her website at www.dianajohnson.co.uk.

Diana Johnson MP said: "I am relieved that the Council has now responded to my recent call and made a late bid for Government help with the costs of repairing flood damage to Hull's roads.

"The Government has bent over backwards to help Hull seek this funding. I am glad that by making this application the Council is now acknowledging that Hull is eligible for this money - contrary to their previous claims.

"It is just a shame that it has taken nearly a year after the June 2007 flooding to get this far. Sheffield's council had this sorted with the Government last year.

"After all the opportunistic statements from the Lib Dem Council administration about the scale of flood damage and their attacks on the Government over flood recovery funding, it would be bizarre not to bid for funding that is going begging."