Water pouring into houses and roads blocked by floods. This was the scene in Stockport in early 2025 when extreme weather battered Greater Manchester and caused havoc around the region.

Heavy rain left parts of Stockport in crisis on New Year's Day, such as the people being evacuated from their homes by emergency services at Meadow Mill on Water Street, forcing residents to stay in hotels for weeks while the damage was repaired.

Lib Dem-led Stockport Council is now calling on the government to fork out for new flood protections to prevent a repeat of the scenes in January 2025 from happening again.

"The government must act, we cannot have families forced to live in fear while ministers debate what counts as a disaster and refuse to recognise that flood risk is a much broader concern than it used to be," said deputy leader, Councillor Jilly Julian.

"Whilst Stockport council is doing great work to protect residents from flooding, we cannot do it alone.

"The lack of funding the council receives from central government is highly concerning, and despite lobbying to ministers across government, we are yet to find one who seems to care."

Stockport council has faced criticism over flooding itself, with residents saying grids in some parts of the borough are not being cleared well enough.

One of those was Alan and Lyn Russell in Cheadle Hulme, whose house was flooded by 'two to three inches of water', and who said they reported a blocked grid outside their home to the council weeks earlier.

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Pressed on the council's record on flood protections, Stockport Lib Dems said they are 'reliant on the lottery of external grant funding' to pay for improvements.

They pointed to recent flood mitigation works on the A555 to update the pumps and ponds along the road, partnerships with the Environment Agency and United Utilities at Poise Brook and Micker Brook, a natural green over soak system installed in the Broadway area of Cheadle, and a 'number of schemes' in Romiley, Cheadle, Hazel Grove, and beyond.

But a lack of government money is a big stumbling block, Councillor Julian said.

The council has huge pressure on its finances, and had to find savings of £20m to balance the books in its budget this year.

The government's recent 'fair funding' review on how much money councils around the country get from Westminster caused major alarm in Stockport town hall.

Councillor Julian said: "Stockport will receive £52m less next year than the average for councils of its kind, and 75 per cent of our budget is spent on providing support to vulnerable children, adults, and families.

"Yet the government seems intent on shifting responsibility away from itself onto overburdened councils.

"They expect us to find the capital funding and have contingency set aside whilst also forcing us to run down reserves."

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A council motion was approved on March 26 calling on more government funding for floods.

Councillors urged the government to 'fund flood mitigation, emergency recovery and relief properly'.

The motion stated: 'This council meeting recalls the flooding event across the north west on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day 2024/25 and the devastating impact this had on many communities, including damage to businesses and homes within Stockport borough, some being made uninhabitable for many months.'

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was approached for comment.

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