Cornish households looking for government funding for repairs to help defend against flooding will have longer to get their applications in, Cornwall Council has announced.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Environment, Joyce Duffin, has welcomed an extension of the Repair and Renew grant scheme, which will enable the council to accept grant applications up to a new deadline of March 11.

The grant, of up to £5,000, is available to help households and businesses pay for repairs to improve their property's ability to withstand future flooding.

Ms Duffin said: “Cornwall was hit very hard by the storms and floods last winter and it left many people struggling to cope physically and financially. Cornwall’s communities are incredibly resilient and the extension of this grant will help anyone who hasn’t yet applied for funding to make their homes and business premises more prepared for severe weather and flooding in the future."

Households, businesses, social enterprises and charitable organisations whose premises were damaged internally by flooding between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014 can still apply to Cornwall Council for assistance through the one off grant scheme.

To be able to qualify for a grant, the flooded property will need to meet certain criteria including:

The interior of the applicant’s home or business premises must have been damaged by flooding between April 2013 and March 2014.
The grants are to help households and businesses pay for measures to improve their property's ability to withstand future flooding.
The applicant must not have received other sources of public or insurance funding to establish the same resilience measures applied for e.g. from the Property Level Protection scheme.
Grant claims can be paid retrospectively if work has already been carried out as a result of flooding during the qualifying period.
Grant approval for work not already commenced will be made subject to the work being completed by 31 May 2015.

Advice on selecting the most appropriate resilience and/or resistance measures is available on the Property Protection Adviser website: http://nationalfloodforum.org.uk/property-level-protection-community-tool/

More information about the Repair and Renew grants, and other schemes available to help people affected by flooding, is on the Cornwall Council website www.cornwall.gov.uk/floodrelief.