Somerset residents who have been affected by recent flooding may be able to claim up to £5,000 in grants.

Several parts of Somerset suffered from severe localised flooding between May 2023 and January 2024, with more than 300 residential and commercial properties being affected.

Somerset Council has commissioned several official studies (known as Section 19) reports into the different incidents of flooding, which will make recommendations in the coming months and years for how similar calamities can be averted.

Now Wells MP James Heappey has confirmed from Defra that grants will be made available through the property flood resilience repair grant scheme.

Storm Henk recently caused havoc in Croscombe and other villages around Shepton Mallet and Wells.

Mr Heappey raised his concerns in a Westminster Hall debate on flooding held on April 17.

Mr Heappey said there had been too little investment in infrastructure within the River Sheppey catchment to account for new development in Wells and Shepton Mallet – with a decision looming on a further 620 new homes in the latter settlement.

He said: “The villages that are worst affected – Coxley, Croscombe, North Wootton and others – sit immediately beneath a number of new housing developments in Wells and Shepton Mallet.”

Visit www.somerset.gov.uk/beaches-ports-and-flooding/grants-for-flood-recovery-from-storm-henk.