Councillor blasts 'outrageous' plans for flood levy to be added to council tax

An angry councillor has blasted new measures to pay for flood defences which he says would unfairly penalise families in the Royal Borough.

Speaking at Monday’s meeting of the council’s Flood Liaison Group, Cllr Malcolm Beer (Old Windsor Residents’ Association, Old Windsor) laid into plans to introduce a flood levy which were approved by full council last month.

The £7.39 per household charge, which would be incorporated into council tax to raise £500,000 a year to pay for flood defences, is due to come into effect from April 2020, subject to a final green light from Westminster.

But Cllr Beer is unhappy that the River Thames Scheme could see households in Windsor and Maidenhead paying to deal with problems starting further up river.

“I think it’s outrageous,” he said.

“We pay our taxes, why should we be paying extra for attending to someone else’s water?

“It comes from the whole of the Thames Valley, it comes from Oxford, it comes from Swindon, but we have to pay for the discharge of that water.

“This should be a national thing.”