EU approves £115m for flood relief

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The cash from the EU's Solidarity Fund is to help offset the estimated £3.2 billion of damage caused by the devastating floods last June and July, which hit thousands of private homes, as well as businesses and road networks.

The contribution from Brussels still needs endorsement from MEPs and EU government ministers but that should be a formality.

The Solidarity Fund was set up in 2002 to provide disaster aid to help cover the costs of uninsurable damage.

This year's floods triggered the first application from the UK Government for such assistance, and the money, which should start flowing early next year, must be spent and accounted for to the Commission within a year.

The funds will go towards reimbursing local authorities for the costs of emergency services, the flood clean-up, and to offset the expense of restoring infrastructures such as roads and power lines.

The EU's Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hubner, on a visit to London, said: "Today's decision proposing to mobilise the Solidarity Fund is a practical way of demonstrating how the Union can help people hit by severe floods in the UK. The aid will help to offset the financial costs of cleaning up, putting basic infrastructure back in working order and taking other emergency measures."

Last month Floods Recovery Minister John Healey visited Ms Hubner to press the case for swift agreement on the aid, describing the EU cash as an "important" addition to national funding.

Grants from the Solidarity Fund are usually between 2.5% and 5% of the total cost of the damage suffered. It was only in August that the Government was able to give Brussels a full assessment of the financial impact of the floods.

The cost of the UK flood damage was described by a Commission official today as the highest total caused by a natural disaster since the Solidarity Fund was launched.