FLOOD defences have moved a step closer to reality after a key meeting to discuss funding.

The Kempsey flood protection scheme has now been shortlisted by a committee of elected councillors from across the Midlands, which met yesterday.

The move is a another step forward for the £914,000 project but villagers must wait until January to discover if their scheme will win funding. The regional flood defence committee met to draw up a short-list of projects which could be funded in the next financial year.

Committee members also short-listed two Worcestershire schemes for funding in 2011/12 – at Charlton, near Evesham, costing £564,000 and Riddings Brook, in Bewdley, estimated at £434,000.

Kempsey missed out on funding in January, but villagers formed campaign body Kempsey Flood Action Group (FLAG), which has raised more than £6,000 towards the scheme.

The money would fund a new watertight bund and water pumps to alleviate flooding which hit 150 properties in the village in 2007.

Cathy Garner, co-chairman of FLAG, said: “We’re a step closer to the decision we want and we’re delighted the committee has received our submissions favourably.

“We’ve had vital support nationally and from the Environment Agency and other local authorities to get us to this stage.”

Campaigners must now wait for one final meeting on Wednesday, January 13, to discover if cash will be released to fund the scheme.

The project is short-listed alongside schemes from Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire, and the Midlands.

Cash to fund the short-list is raised from all Midlands councils through the Local Levy, but the amount is only decided at the January meeting so it is not yet clear how many of the short-listed projects will get the greenlight.