FLOOD-HIT residents have welcomed a grant of almost £100,000 to help protect their properties from future damage.

The £96,000 flood protection grant was given to Rockbeare to help those whose homes were badly damaged in the autumn floods last year.

The Government scheme, run by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), aims to promote household-level flood protection in cases where flooding happens frequently and where other flood management solutions are not economically, environmentally or technically viable.

It also aims to help local communities engage with and understand their flood risk. Consultants will also work with residents to secure the best value flood protection measures for the money. Work is due to start in the spring.

Ottery St Mary and Feniton did not qualify for the scheme because other schemes are considered viable in those places and bids have been made to DEFRA for them.

Rockbeare Resident John Ward-Wyatt, of Birch End, said the money was good news. He said: "We have had flooding in our street outside but not into our premises like some people in the village. But the money is excellent news for the village. I was at the meeting on Friday, November 13, when we were told about it."

Ivan Randall, parish plan chairman, said: "We are delighted that Rockbeare has been recognised as a place where there is a high risk of flood damage and where the efforts of individual householders to protect their properties can be supplemented by Government funding.

"We will be working with East Devon District Council and Devon County Council and the Environment Agency to ensure that the village gains the greatest possible individual and communal benefit from a holistic set of flood protection measures."

Councillor Graham Brown, EDDC's environment spokesman, said: "I am so pleased that this hard-won Government funding is going to such a good cause. We know there are other areas of East Devon that also need flood protection work of varying levels. But at least in Rockbeare we have a chance to spend a limited sum of money and make a difference".