A BID for funding of up to £10million to improve flood defences in Tadcaster is to be submitted following talks in Westminster.

It comes as the area's MP, Nigel Adams, is calling for urgent improvements to the town’s flood defences following recent flooding in the town.

Mr Adams invited local flood group member David Bewley and North Yorkshire county councillor David Jeffels to join him in meeting with Dr Thérèse Coffey MP, minister responsible for floods, water and waterways.

The discussions also involved officials from the Environment Agency and it was agreed that a bid for up to £10million of funding for an improved flood defences scheme would be tabled for the Treasury.

Following the meeting, Mr Bewley said: “I met the minister when she visited Tadcaster in August 2017 and was very pleased to have been invited to attend. The meeting, which had been requested by Nigel Adams MP, was constructive. I was most encouraged by the level of detail discussed and the understanding of the problem.”

Cllr Jeffels, joint chairman of the York and North Yorkshire Flood Protection Committee, added: “I was very pleased to hear from the flood minister, Dr Therese Coffey, how much progress had been made within Government towards funding of a new flood protection scheme for Tadcaster. This will be a large project and there will still be a need for partner funding for the project. The discussion we had will enable me to move forward and present the case to other organisations and thus give us a viable way forward.”

Nigel Adams described the meeting as “very productive.”

He said: “I am hopeful that we now have some momentum towards getting a plan designed, approved and financed.”

Last month, Tadcaster Albion’s football pitch was under water after the River Wharfe burst its banks.

In addition, three households in Tadcaster were cut off by floods, and the town’s Coach and Horses pub had to cancel all bookings when its cellar flooded.

In December 2015, scores of homes and businesses in Tadcaster were damaged by flooding, while the bridge across the River Wharfe collapsed.