VILLAGERS of Burton-in-Kendal have sought help from MP Tim Farron to protect their homes from future floods.

The village has formed a flood action group to press the case for funding, after a bid for government money was turned down in July this year.

The group is calling for a major overhaul of Burton's gullies, culverts and drains to prevent the surface-water flooding seen in 2017, as well as on several previous occasions. It also wants individual householders to be eligible for flood resilience grants to protect their own homes.

On September 12, 2017, 34mm rain fell in 24 hours, and 14 dwellings were flooded at the Square, the Creamery and Neddy Hill/Tanpits Lane.

Although the rainfall on November 22 that year was heavier, fewer properties flooded, with several saved by sandbagging.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Mr Farron said the CCC highways department had done some "good and thorough" work to unblock culverts and drains. However, he said there was still much to do, such as drawing up a plan to resolve the main problems.

He said Burton felt like "a forgotten community" and told the Gazette: "The fear of flooding is so debilitating to people - the ability to get insured, to make plans for your future - it's deeply psychologically troubling.

"It doesn't feel to me as though the works that need to be done to the culverts are anything like as ambitious as the work needed in places like Kendal, for example.

"What's being asked for is modest, reasonable and long overdue. We need to be thinking of the needs of the local community so they are able to have the peace of mind they deserve."

Chris Nolan, who heads up the flood action group, was among the villagers whose homes flooded last year. He said Burton's drains were out of date and could not cope in heavy rainfall. The village was still at risk of flooding because the bid for government funding could not be resubmitted until July 2019.

Mr Nolan lives just off the Square, and said: "We had water running through the house. It wasn't very deep but it doesn't matter whether it's an inch or 10 feet, it causes the damage.

"Surrounding properties had all the cellars flooded. They had their boilers in the cellar so the heating and hot water were off."

Mr Nolan works in the disaster restoration industry and repaired his own property using an insurance payout. He and wife Lynne had moved in just a few months before.

"All the people affected are still in state of what to do next," he said.

"I like to think I'm a sensible person but every time it starts raining heavily I'm out at two or three in the morning looking to see if the drains are backing up. People down the road are doing the same. It's an ongoing worry."

A CCC spokesman told the Gazette the Government had allocated £12 million to be spent this financial year. "Drainage schemes of the magnitude of those required in Burton will not be able to be delivered by March 31, 2019," he said. "We are therefore using this money on works that can be delivered by March 31 – this includes a number of highway surfacing schemes. The drainage scheme for Burton will be included in a list of potential future schemes, but this is dependent on identifying available funding."