Diglis Avenue is located in the city of Worcester on the banks of the River Severn. It is also one of the areas most at risk of flooding along the Severn. Today, we are launching a new campaign about the issues facing Diglis.

 

Watch our short film: Diglis Campaign Film

 

The residents of Diglis Avenue say that up until just a few years ago they would typically face a flood event around once every seven years, which many felt was manageable and allowed properties to properly dry out. But since around 2019 people say that they are flooding every year, sometimes on multiple occasions, leaving homes in rapidly deteriorating physical condition.  This is having a huge impact on the mental health of those that live there.

 

The only practical solution for Diglis is a new flood wall to stop flooding from the River Severn and end the misery of flooding that this community faces.

 

Residents of Diglis have done everything that has been asked of them. They have installed property-level protection, paid for repairs time and again, and lived for years with the anxiety of each approaching winter. Yet flooding has become more frequent, more damaging and more relentless.

 

Under the current Flood Defence Grant-in-Aid rules, Diglis has struggled to qualify for the investment it needs. That reality has left residents feeling trapped, flooding year after year, with no clear route to a permanent solution.

 

Recent changes to flood funding rules offer some hope, but they also raise serious concerns for communities like Diglis.

 

A growing proportion of national flood funding is now being directed towards the maintenance of existing defences. While maintaining defences is essential, this shift risks crowding out investment in new schemes, particularly for smaller residential communities that already lack protection. For Diglis, which needs a new, hard-engineered flood wall rather than maintenance of an existing structure, this is deeply worrying.

 

The Government has indicated that schemes costing under £3 million may be eligible for full funding in future. However, the detail matters. Without transparency on how schemes will be prioritised, communities like Diglis are left in limbo, unsure whether this policy change will finally open the door, or simply raise expectations that cannot be met.

 

What we need now is clarity:

• How will schemes under £3 million be assessed and prioritised?
• How will repeated flooding, worsening mental health impacts, and long-term community harm be properly valued?
• How will smaller, highly flood-prone communities avoid being overlooked in favour of maintaining defences elsewhere?

 

Without clear answers, there is a real risk that Diglis will continue to suffer flooding year on year, not because a solution does not exist, but because the system is not yet designed to respond to communities like this.

 

The people of Diglis, and many other communities just like them, are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for fairness, urgency and a funding system that recognises the real human cost of living with constant flood risk. Any new funding framework must be judged on whether it finally delivers protection for places like Diglis not just on paper, but on the ground.

 

Media enquiries:

Ben Hennessy
Call: 07549 870 916
Email: [email protected]