The 40 residential and business properties in Uckfield, East Sussex will benefit in the region of an estimated total cost of £30,000.
These properties have suffered flooding in recent years and a community wide flood defence scheme is not planned. The Environment Agency will be working with the local council in administering the grant arrangements across a range of properties with relatively low-cost solutions.
In this current selection round, five pilot areas across England will be eligible for a proportion of the £500,000 that has been earmarked by Defra to make vulnerable homes more resilient to the threat of flooding.
Minister for Climate Change and Environment Ian Pearson said:
"Due to the impacts of climate change flooding is an ever increasing risk that people need to be protected from. I am pleased to announce that residences in East Sussex have been selected for a new pilot grant scheme, to protect individual properties from flooding.
"These areas have a range of different properties and flooding types which will enable us to test different approaches to reducing the risk and administering grants. Further pilot areas will be considered shortly.
Information from the pilots, together with a parallel research project, will help us take a long term decision on whether such a grant scheme would be used in the future to protect people from flooding."
Funding will be targeted at measures to stop water getting into the home, such as temporary door-guards or waterproof render, or to reduce damage if water does enter the home, such as water-resistant walls and floors or raising electrics.
Payments under the pilot scheme will be up to a maximum of £5,000 per property.
