Calderdale and parts of Kirklees suffered horrendous damage in the Boxing Day floods but twice the amount of money per head is being spent on boosting flooding defences in the south of England.
The new figures show the south east of England is to receive five times more money per person for flood defences in the coming years than parts of the flood-hit north.
The significant differences in per capita spending on new flooding schemes between regions are revealed in the new national infrastructure delivery plan published by the Government.
Flooding in Mirfield
The plan sets out a pipeline of £4.1 billion of capital investment in schemes from 2016/2017 to 2022 and beyond, including major projects in Oxford, Lincolnshire, London and Fylde Peninsula, Lancashire.
By the end of 2020/2021, some £2.7 billion will have been spent on better protecting 300,000 homes, avoiding £23 billion in household damage and cutting flood risk in England by 5%, the report says.
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But an analysis of the six major projects and 23 programmes from next year reveals the share of the £4.1 billion is set to be much higher per person for the South East than anywhere else in England.
The figures, based on regional populations, show a per person spending of £167 in the South East, almost double the £92 being spent in Yorkshire and the Humber, one of the areas badly hit by flooding this winter.
Flood devastation in Brighouse
Some £75 per person will be spent in the East Midlands, £57 per person in the South West and £40 in Eastern England.
In the North East, spending per person will be £33, a fifth of that being spent in the South East, while the North West, which saw some of the worst flooding this winter, will see £30 spent per person.
The damage bill in Calderdale alone topped £33m and in Kirklees is estimated to run to many millions.
Flooding in Milnsbridge
A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the per person figures were “misleading” because they did not take into account projects where the benefits would cross different regional boundaries, proposed schemes that were still being assessed and spending on maintenance.
She said: “Rainfall does not respect man-made regional boundaries so the Government spends money on flood defences and flood recovery where it is needed most, whether that’s north, south, east or west.”
