PLANS have been unveiled to invest £2.4m in localised flood defence schemes.
The Environment Agency plans to use some of the money to prevent flooding at a beck in Stockton and the expansion of the Living Waterways project into Teesside.
The funding is raised from local authorities in the North East by the Northumbria Regional Flood Defence Committee, which is used to deliver a range of locally important work on flood response, climate change action and comprehensive approaches to flooding on rivers.
Committee chairman Frank Major said: "The levy fund will finance more than 30 schemes in the next financial year which will concentrate on small-scale engineering work, and involve local people at the core of its solutions. It is more important than ever that we are able to protect communities from flooding."
The schemes for 2011/12 include building flood banks and walls to protect properties in some of the areas close to Lustrum Beck in Stockton and the expansion of the Living Waterways project, which aims to reduce the risk of flooding in urban areas.
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