Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers has announced £62m of funding to help protect communities from floods.

It will support 13 projects in Yorkshire, Cumbria, the North East and the South East of England, mainly in areas which suffered from flooding in the winter of 2015.

Ms Villiers said the funding was in addition to the Government’s commitment to invest £2.6bn over six years up to 2021 to better protect 300,000 homes across the country.

She said the new money would help develop existing flood defences, boost economic regeneration and increase prosperity.

She said: 'I am delighted to announce over £60m of additional funding to better protect communities which are vulnerable to flooding, particularly across parts of northern England.

'Events this summer have shown that investing in flood risk management is more important than ever, and this funding builds on our long-standing £2.6bn commitment to better protect 300,000 homes from flooding and coastal erosion over six years.'