An MP has stressed the need for flood management to remain a key issue in west Worcestershire.

Harriett Baldwin sent questions to environment secretary Caroline Spelman about funding for flood defences in her area.

The MP has a meeting scheduled later this month with Dafydd Evans, the area manager for the Environment Agency.

She told the Evesham Journal that she wanted to make sure the budget included funds for flood defences in places such as Tenbury Wells, Powick, Kempsey and Pershore.

“It is vital that this matter is picked up by our new government,” she said.

Flood management work is now beginning in Pershore.

Ms Baldwin is a Conservative MP and has held her seat since 2006.

Earlier this week, Copeland MP Jamie Reed warned that cutting flood management budgets is a bad idea which could result in similar scenes of flooding to those which occurred in Cumbria in 2009, reported the News and Star.