Calder Valley Flood Funds 2012-13 Brief Report
1. Initial Response
The CFFC kick-started the Upper Valley Flood Fund with a sum of £10,000. To date, this fund has grown to well over
£150,000 with contributions from local companies, the various Councils of Calderdale (Including Calderdale Council,
Todmorden and Hebden Royd) the general population of Calderdale, and groups from across the UK and
internationally.
In the immediate emergency response phase, Community Foundation staff supported volunteers working with
affected householders, responded to grant applicants within 3 days, issued emergency grants to voluntary
organisations to enable them to provide emergency help so that they be up and running, to serve the affected
communities, as quickly as possible.
The CCF purchased 30 dehumidifiers, steam cleaners and cleaning equipment with a value of over £11,000 in the few
weeks after the initial flood. These items are in the care of community groups in the Valley.
2. Emergency Flood Fund- numbers supported breakdown.
Numbers Applying
We received a total of 232 applications, of these 204 were awarded grants either in the form of cash/cheques and/or
replacement white goods. Therefore, 28 applications were not funded for one reason or another:
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We received more than one application from the same household under different names
The applicant was not living in the property that was the subject of the application (i.e. he/she was a
landlord)
The application requested replacement of items that were not considered essential (e.g. bicycles, toys, hi-fi
equipment, computers etc)
The application was requesting funding for flood resilience measures (these applicants were subsequently
re-directed to the Flood Resilience Fund)
The application was withdrawn by the applicant
The applicant was either un-contactable because he/she had provided insufficient information or did not
respond to requests for further information
A small number of applications were referred to Todmorden Lions who were distributing funds themselves
Analysis of Grants Awarded
Area
Bradshaw
Hebden Bridge
Mytholmroyd
Todmorden
TOTAL
No. of Awards
1
53
28
122
204
Cash/Cheque
Total
£250.00
£12,189.82
£5,626.00
£19,800.00
£37,865.82
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White Goods
Total
n/a
£3,560.00
£1,530.00
£15,820.00
£20,910.00
Overall Total
£250.00
£15,749.82
£7,156.00
£35,620.00
£58,775.82
What Was Funded?
Predominantly things that enabled flooded householders to get back to some semblance of normal life.
In Todmorden several streets of terraced properties were flooded and many of them had basement kitchens. So,
many people there needed to be able to fund basic electrical repairs, replacement white goods and floor coverings.
Many householders throughout the valley had experienced flooding before, making it prohibitively expensive or
impossible to obtain property insurance. Some of those householders who were insured were unable to pay the
excess demanded by their insurers, and so requested grants for all or part of the excess to allow them to make
claims for the damage. In a few cases, where householders had to move out of their properties while repairs were
made, grants were provided to help with the cost of temporary relocation.
Where white goods were requested, the Foundation dealt directly with a supplier and provided basic cookers,
fridges, freezers, washers rather than like-for-like replacements for the items that had been lost.
Administration
Applicants did not apply directly to CFFC but through other referring bodies (CMBC’s Customer First centres or
Citizens Advice) who completed and submitted the application forms. When received by CFFC, each application
was:a)
b)
c)
d)
Entered into the main grants database
Checked and any additional information required requested from applicant
Assessed against the awards criteria and approved or rejected
Cheque raised and/or white goods ordered from supplier
The average time taken from application to payment was approximately 7 days but some really urgent applications
were dealt with much more quickly.
Promotion
The availability of grants from the Flood Fund was promoted in a number of ways:
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From the ‘Home’ page of the CFFC website
In person when CFFC staff members visited the flooded areas
Through banners displayed in prominent places in the flooded areas
Through the local press, regional TV programmes etc
CFFC representatives attended meetings with flood victims, local council representatives, the Environment
Agency and representatives from the National Flood Forum
There was a considerable amount of ‘word of mouth’ publicity from early recipients of grants to their friends
and neighbours
CFFC monitored and contributed to the Facebook page set up to help and inform flood victims
3. Flood Defence & Resilience Fund
Soon after the initial flooding and the setting up of the Flood Fund we started to receive enquiries from homeowners
wishing to protect their homes from future flooding or to make them more resilient to such flooding should it occur.
Research (Flood Impact Survey carried out by CFFC August-September 2012) showed that:
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Specialist advice was required to find the most effective measures to protect a particular property
Effective measures can be extremely costly (The National Flood Forum estimates £6-8k to protect an
average home against flash flooding and £20-40k to protect it against prolonged flooding to a depth of 1m)
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It was apparent that it would be impossible to offer grants to cover householders’ entire costs and also impossible
to estimate how many applications we were likely to receive. It was decided, therefore, to set the maximum
amount that an applicant could receive at £150. The Flood Defence Fund commenced in October 2012
Applicants applied directly to CFFC on a special form made available through the website. In order to qualify he/she
had:a) To have received specialist advice to identify the measures needed to protect his/her particular property
b) To have informed his/her mortgage provider and insurer and got their agreement for any changes to the
property
c) (In the case of tenants) To have obtained the agreement of his/her landlord to the proposed measures
d) To be unable to pay for the measures without a grant
e) To obtain accurate estimates of the cost of the measures to be undertaken
Where an applicant met all of the above criteria, he/she was offered a grant up to a maximum of £150. The offer
was open for 4 months and would be paid only when he/she was ready to start the work. So far, 38 applications
have been received:15 From Mytholmroyd
11 From Hebden Bridge
19 From Todmorden
2 From Copley
The fund is still open and some applications are pending but, to date, £7,470 (September 2013) has been awarded
or offered.
4. Flood Boxes
While processing Flood Fund applications it became apparent that the ability of a householder to act quickly was
crucial in preventing flooding to his/her property. Something as simple as the immediate availability of sandbags
could minimise damage to some properties. Most people are unable/unwilling to store sandbags and, by the time a
flood is occurring it is too late to distribute them from a central point. Research showed the availability of ‘Aqua
Sacs’, sandbag substitutes filled with gel which can be packed flat but which inflate when soaked in water.
CFFC arranged for 100 flood emergency kits to be assembled and then made available free of charge to
householders who had been affected by flooding. Each kit was housed in a plastic box that could be filled with
water and used to ‘inflate’ the Aqua Sacs. Each box carried this label:-
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All applicants for Flood Defence grants were offered a box and to date approximately 84 have been delivered.
5. Further details and contact information
A Flood Needs Assessment was carried out by the CFFC in late August 2012. This consisted of 44 telephone
interviews where householders were asked about the effect the flooding has had on them, the help that they have
received, how they feel the authorities have performed regarding the flooding and how they think flood resilience
can be improved for the future. The Council should already be aware of the results of the Assessment from a report
which was provided to them.
The CFFC has taken measures to make sure that the Upper Calder Valley is publicly perceived as being on the road to
recovery after the flooding. The Upper Valley Flood Fund is contributing toward the upcoming Festival of Light event.
The CFFC also organised several pop-up stores to promote commerce in Hebden Bridge called ‘Hebden Rising’, this
campaign also included a Marketing Booklet for local shops in Hebden Bridge.
This information is correct to the best knowledge of the author however some of the figures are subject to review.
For further details and clarification regarding the information contained in this document please contact Rob Billson
at
The Community Foundation for Calderdale,
The 1855 Building, Discovery road,
Halifax,
HX1 3EG.
rob@cffc.co.uk
Tel 01422 438739
Rob Billson
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