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Nearly £3m will be spent on flood alleviation in Barry, the Welsh Government has announced, which will work to reduce risks for residents in 205 homes and three schools.

The £2.9m scheme, which is expected to save an estimated £50m of damages, will work to help houses in Barry that have a history of flooding problems around the Coldcrook watercourse and drainage systems.

In July 2007, more than 100 properties in the area were affected by intense rainfall, which the drainage systems in place were unable to cope with.

While £2.1m of the funding is coming from the Welsh Government, the European Regional Development is contributing £113,000, and £302,000 will come from Natural Resources Wales. The remainder of the £2.9m will be paid by the Vale of Glamorgan council.

(Image: Malcolm Morgan)

Funds to be spent on variety of jobs

The watercourse in question begins in Colcot and flows through Gibbonsdown, Cadoxton and Palmerston before discharging into the Bigis Moors drainage system.

The funds will be spent on jobs including repairing damaged sections, widening channels, clearing debris and creating a flood storage area to hold back the peak of a flood.

Related: Rhoose Point housing scheme given go-ahead despite opponents' flooding fears

Carl Sargeant, natural resources minister, said: “I am delighted to announce this funding to protect people, homes, schools and communities in Barry, which forms part of more than £24m Welsh Government capital grant aid available in 2015/16 to support flood and coastal risk management improvement schemes and projects.

“Over the lifetime of this Government we are investing over £245m in flood and coastal risk management. This has been supported by almost £50m from the European regional development fund. We are continuously working to further improve our preparedness, resilience and response to events such as flooding.”

Darren Walsh, flood risk manager for Natural Resources Wales, said: “We can’t always prevent flooding from happening, but where we can, we’ll take action to reduce the risk to people’s homes and businesses. This scheme is an excellent example of how various flood authorities can work together to come up with effective solutions to managing flood risk. We hope the scheme continues to provide peace of mind for the people who live and work in the Barry area.”