AROUND £40 million of funding for the Bridgwater Barrage project must be secured this year to get the project moving forward, the town’s MP says.

Tory Ian Liddell-Grainger said he wanted a business case for the huge scheme submitted in the next few weeks to get the funding included in the government’s Autumn Statement.

This statement provides details on the Government’s plans for the economy with funds allocated for the next year.

After the severe flooding on the Somerset Levels this January and February, a barrage across the River Parrett downstream of Bridgwater, to hold back the highest tides, has been put forward as a solution to prevent repeat floods.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said he was meeting Environment Secretary Liz Truss today (Tuesday) to discuss the urgency of getting the project off the ground.

He said: “The Environment Agency really needs to get their finger out here and make sure the business case for this is submitted in the next few weeks.

“The money for the whole project, some £40 million, needs to be allocated for this and included in the Autumn Statement published on December 3.

“I will be speaking to Liz Truss about the schedule for this. We need to get the funding in place first then the planning process and agreements will take another two or three years.

“We need to get the building work started in about three to four years. The Environment Agency typically do not want to work very fast on things but I will be pushing them on this. There will be blood on the carpet if the EA don’t get on with their submission.”

Environment Agency spokesman for the South-West, Paul Gainey, said: “We will be submitting a business case to the Government but we thought this funding would be more for the initial costings of the scheme rather than the whole project.

“We will submit the case and it’s then up to them to decide what kind of priority it will get. As far as we are concerned it is a 10-15 year timescale and the project hasn’t even been costed as yet.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger hit back at the EA’s statement saying: “We want the submission for the whole project and we expect it very soon.

I will be hammering for this to happen. The EA needs to do a lot more work to get things moving. A lot of people hold them responsible for the winter flooding.”