The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has said she would be delighted to visit the Slow the Flow project in Pickering. An invitation was made during DEFRA questions on Thursday 19th January by Thirsk and Malton MP, Kevin Hollinrake. He told the House of Commons about how the natural flood alleviation scheme, part-funded by DEFRA, saves the taxpayer about £15 million compared with a similar, traditional scheme. Mr. Hollinrake asked Rt Hon. Andrea Leadsom MP if she would meet him to see what has been done. She replied,
“I would, of course, be delighted to visit my hon. Friend’s constituency. If we can get our diaries to work, that would be truly delightful. I would particularly like to see the success of the Pickering project, which has been one of the building blocks in securing the £15 million of funding that we announced in November last year, which is dedicated specifically to natural flood management schemes across the UK. This money will let us test new approaches to see how natural flood resources can help us in the future.”