Ben Everitt, the MP for Milton Keynes North, has secured a win for local residents after the Environment Agency agreed to his request to clear the river in Newport Pagnell of vegetation and weeds.
Flooding has been a huge concern for local residents for a long time, with bad floods affecting the town in December 2020, and the Environment Agency had not been planning to clear the river despite it being visibly full of weeds.
After raising the issue a number of times with Environment Minister Rebecca Pow, she arranged a meeting with the Environment Agency and Ben where they agreed to clear vegetation and weeds from the river later this year.
Ben Everitt MP said: “I’ve been working with a number of local residents on this issue for over a year now and I’m delighted the Environment Agency has agreed to clear the river in Newport Pagnell.
“Flooding remains a big worry for Newport Pagnell residents and I’m glad we’ve been able to convince the Environment Agency to take action and I want to thank Rebecca Pow for her support on this.”
At the meeting with the Minister and Environment Agency Ben also raised concerns he’s received from residents about MK Council’s plan to build thousands of new houses to the east of the M1 on productive agricultural land which could add to the flooding problems already being experienced in Newport Pagnell and surrounding villages.