North Yorkshire Council
Corporate Director of Resources
12 March 2026
Grant in Aid Agreement to Drawdown Funding – Wensleydale, Reeth
and Upper Dales
Report of the Assistant Director – Highways and Infrastructure
1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1 To request approval from Corporate Director Resources, sub-delegated to the Assistant Director – Resources (Environment) to authorise the acceptance of grant funding from the Environment Agency Grant in Aid funding of £326k.
2.0 BACKGROUND
2.1 As a Flood Risk Management Authority (RMA), North Yorkshire Council can apply for national Grant in Aid (GiA) funding through the Environment Agency (EA) to better protect properties from flooding. RMAs make applications to the EA for funding to be allocated and profiled into the Medium-Term Plan (MTP) ready to be drawn down subject to business case approval. GiA therefore, forms an important funding stream that NYC use to supplement and match fund its capital flood programme. The current MTP programme was due to run until March 2027.
2.2 On 09 August 2024, the Environment Executive Members provided approval to apply for the Environment Agency Grant in Aid funding and the Flood and Coastal Committee Local Levy funding to support the Upper Dales Flood Alleviation Schemes (Appendix A). A breakdown of the funding allocated to each scheme is provided in Table 1 below.
2.2.1 Table 1. Original approved funding bids agreed by Committee
|
Project title |
NYC |
Grant in Aid |
Local Levy |
|
P1. Wensleydale |
£97,500 |
£168,483 |
£58,017 |
|
P2. Leyburn |
£107,250 |
£143,910 |
£88,940 |
|
P3. Leyburn & Redmire |
£74,750 |
£82,185 |
£100,666 |
|
P4. Leyburn 3 |
£100,750 |
£115,915 |
£110,035 |
|
P5. West Witton & Spennithorne |
£47,618 |
£103,382 |
£47,618 |
|
P6. Reeth |
£70,913 |
£138,637 |
£70,913 |
|
P7. Upper Dales |
£106,700 |
£120,700 |
£106,700 |
|
Total |
£650,000 |
£873,212 |
£582,889 |
2.3 The Environment Agency undertake an annual programme refresh to update the allocations throughout the 6-year programme. This annual refresh usually occurs in April/May each year. The allocations for 2025/26 and 2026/27 were previously approved by a reset programme business case submitted by the EA to and approved by HM Treasury in February 2024. The FCRM funding for 2025/26 has since been agreed through the Spending Review 2024 and the previous settlement revised, the consequence of which is less funding now being allocated than originally allocated for 2025/26.
2.4 With Ministerial direction, £72million from the FCRM Investment Programme was diverted to support the maintenance of existing Environment Agency assets. This means, collectively GiA could not fund all the previously planned work in 2025/26 and 2026/27.
2.5 To allow a clean break in the funding cycle to reflect the new funding rules and reflecting a national overspend, the EA shortened the current 6-year programme which was due to expire in 2026/27 to 2025/26. Schemes with allocations in 2026/27 have therefore been removed from the programme altogether resulting in a 50% reduction in available GiA in the Yorkshire region.
2.6 At the March 2025 Yorkshire Regional and Coastal Committee (YRFCC) meetings and the equivalent meeting in January 2026 for the 26/27 programme, whilst acknowledging the uncomfortable position of the indicative allocations, the RFCC members endorsed a programme of significantly reduced allocations, recognising the need for those projects currently in progress to receive their funding. This is referred to as the ‘local choices’ process. This is an important step to ensure local priorities can be taken into consideration and we get the best possible outcomes from the programme both locally and nationally.
2.7 Unfortunately, Wensleydale, Reeth and Upper Dales schemes did not secure GiA in the local choices process and their allocations were removed, however at the time of the approval of the programme, all three schemes had live Local Levy bids and secured some funding for 2025/26 and therefore some survey work was able to start. This meant that the GiA shortfall for the three schemes was £428k.
2.8 Approval to submit an application for the total sum of £219,370 from the available Flood and Coastal Committee Local Levy was agreed at the Executive Members meeting on the 19 December 2025 (Appendix B) to part cover the £428k shortfall. The bid was submitted to the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee February-April 2026 approval cycle which commenced with the North Yorkshire Flood Risk Partnership on 18 February 2026, the earliest possible opportunity following the approval in December 2025. Should we be successful for the Environment Agency end of year settlement of £326k we will reduce the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee funding application to £101k.
2.9 Week commencing 09 February 2026, a windfall GiA funding of £326k became available for these three schemes, with an application deadline of 11 February 2026. The applications have been submitted and we are awaiting the award letters. The Corporate Director of Resources sub delegated to the Assistant Director- Resources, Environment agreed FRM could apply for this funding on Thursday 12 February 2026. (Appendix C)
3.0 PROGRESS TO DATE
3.1 108 properties have received their design and installation survey.
3.2 61 homeowner agreements have been received.
3.3 The next stage of the project is installation of the property flood resilience measures.
4.0 ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED
4.1 Without GiA funding, the MTP is running with a shortfall of £428k which is currently being underwritten by the Flood Risk Management (FRM) base budget supplemented by the FRM Revenue Reserve in 2025/26. (See Table 2 of Appendix B)
5.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
5.1 The funding made available from The Environment Agency for Grant in Aid is detailed in the Table 2 below. It is less than the values originally agreed in August 2024 but does reduce the shortfall of £428k by £326k to £102k. As detailed in Appendix B this shortfall in funding will be funded by the additional Flood and Coastal Committee Local Levy bid, if successful, and the FRM base budget supplemented by the FRM Revenue Reserve in 2025/26 without significant detriment to the programme, other than to defer schemes to future years. The reduced shortfall can now be fully covered by a reduced bid of additional Local Levy funding without the need for additional NYC contribution. NYC’s contribution to the schemes, if the Local Levy funding bid is successful will revert to Table 1 as originally approved without impact on the future programme. Schemes currently in abeyance will be progressed when new GiA allocations are made by the EA in future years.
5.1.1 Table 2. Grant in Aid Funding Available
|
Project title |
Original Funding Bid |
Funding Available Now |
Difference |
|
P1. Wensleydale |
£168,483 |
£134,000 |
£64,483 |
|
P6. Reeth |
£138,637 |
£115,400 |
£28,637 |
|
P7. Upper Dales |
£120,700 |
£76,600 |
£8,700 |
|
Total |
£427,820 |
£326,000 |
£101,820 |
5.2 The GiA funding needs to be spent in the current financial year, by 31 March 2026. This can be achieved based on the programme – see Table 3 below.
5.3 Table 3 shows how the GiA funding will be spent. The additional forecasted spend is calculated from a partial upfront fee for materials upon receipt of a completed homeowner agreement. There is high confidence in homeowner agreements being returned before the 31 March 2026.
5.3.1 Table 3. Shows Spend to Date and Forecasted Spend to the 31 March
|
Project |
Spend to Date |
Home owner agreements to be returned |
Additional Forecast Expenditure to 31 March |
Total Expenditure to 31 March |
Local Levy allocated for 25/26 |
Unclaimed Expenditure by NYC (Total Expenditure – Local Levy)
Forecast Spend |
|
Wensleydale |
£90,000 |
15 |
£102,000 |
£192,017 |
£58,017 |
£134,000 |
|
Reeth |
£81,000 |
17 |
£105,400 |
£186,313 |
£70,913 |
£115,400 |
|
Upper Dales |
£85,000 |
15 |
£98,600 |
£183,300 |
£106,700 |
£76,600 |
|
Total |
£256,000 |
47 |
£306,000 |
£561,630 |
£235,630 |
£326,000 |
6.0 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
6.1 Acceptance of the funding will require NYC to enter into a grant agreement, any legal agreement required to be signed will be reviewed by Legal Services and if any of the Grant terms present an unacceptable risk for the Council then the Grant offer would be declined.
6.2 Any expenditure of the grant monies shall be in accordance with the Council’s Procurement and Contract Procedure Rules, and where relevant the Public Procurement Act 2023.
7.0 EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS
7.1 The scheme benefits all those with protected characteristics by reducing the risk of surface water flooding in the Upper Dales and thereby the associated effects upon businesses, residential properties, the public health of the community living at flood risk and the associated economic growth of the area. The report was completed for the initial Environment Executive Report on the 09 August 2024.
8.0 CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS
8.1 Flood mitigation offers positive benefits to resilience to future climate change projections. The proposals are anticipated to have a positive impact in response to climate change. The report was completed for the initial Environment Executive Report on the 09 August 2024.
9.0 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
9.1 It is therefore considered appropriate to continue with the scheme as intended, with regular relevant liaison through the engagement channels established as part of the scheme.
|
10.0 |
RECOMMENDATION
|
|
10.1 |
That the Corporate Director resources, sub-delegated to the Assistant Director - Resources (Environment)) authorises the acceptance of funding to the amount of £326k of the Environment Agency Grant in Aid to enable scheme development during 2025/26 and 2026/27 subject to appropriate terms and conditions being received.
|
APPENDICES:
Appendix A – Upper Dales Flood Alleviation Scheme Executive Committee Report 09 August 2024
Appendix B – Upper Dales Flood Alleviation Scheme Executive Committee Report 19 December 2025
Appendix C – Upper Dales Flood Alleviation Scheme Executive Committee Report February 2026
Barrie Mason
Assistant Director Highways and Infrastructure
Report Author – Patricia Gourley Flood Risk Management Project Manager
Presenter of Report – Meirion Jones Lead Local Flood Authority Team Lead