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Work to protect a Monmouthshire village from future flooding has once again stalled after it was revealed there is no project manager to progress the scheme.
Skenfrith, on the banks of the River Monnow and Norton Brook, has found itself under water three times in 14 months.
Homes and businesses were particularly hard hit after heavy rainfall in October 2019 and again just four months later when Storm Dennis struck in February 2020, causing extensive damage.
Following concerns from the local community, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has been drawing up various options for flood prevention measures – with £104,000 budgeted to develop a Strategic Outline Case into the viability of a possible scheme.
At the beginning of September 2023, however, NRW announced it was looking to save money due to “significant” financial pressures and limited resources. The project was placed on hold until the start of April 2024 at the earliest.
While a funding allocation for the 2024/25 financial year has now been made from the Welsh Government to kick-start work in Skenfrith, NRW has confirmed it does not currently have a project manager to take plans forward.
Monmouth MP David Davies, a long-term supporter of village representatives and their campaign for better flood defences, described the latest setback as “shocking”.
“Just when we are given good news about funding and thought the scheme was back on track, we are now told two experienced project managers have recently left and there is no-one else available,” said Mr Davies.
“This is turning into a fiasco and I am simply not satisfied. Residents are living in constant fear of another major flood and Skenfrith deserves proper protection.
“Having secured funding, it surely ought to be possible to find somebody who can get things moving and NRW need to work very hard to recruit so there are no further delays.”
NRW’s head of operations for South East Wales, Steve Morgan, said a recruitment process was underway and is expected to take several weeks.
But he warned Mr Davies of “a number of constraints”, including an “extremely competitive” external market for experienced project managers and engineers which is making it difficult to fill posts.