A £1million project to repair flood defences at Rolle Quay in Barnstaple is expected to begin in the summer. Pic by 72ephotography

Rolle Quay repairs set to start this summer.

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A £1million package of repairs to flood defences in Barnstaple has been rubber-stamped by the Government.

The work at Rolle Quay is scheduled to start in the summer and would help protect around 321 homes, according to the Environment Agency.

The work will involve repairs to the steel sheet piles that make up the flood defences, erected in the 1980s.

In February last year, the Gazette reported that funding for the project, on land adjacent to the recent Redrow housing development, had been approved in principle.

The scheme has now received the final go-ahead as one of 93 English flood defence project approved by Whitehall yesterday (Thursday).

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said £2.3bn was being invested by government up to 2015, with an additional £148m in partnership funding contributions from local councils, businesses and private investors.

Communities in the South West will benefit from £25.3 million capital funding this year to help protect them against the risk of flooding.

Richard Cresswell, South West director of the Environment Agency, said the main objective remained to try to find solutions to the flooding problems that affect communities across the South West.

“We will continue to work with local people to come up with those solutions,” he said.

“We are really pleased that this funding has been made available both for larger projects and to assist smaller communities with flood protection schemes.

“This money will go a long way in making communities more resilient, and protecting them from the effects of flooding which we know can be devastating.”