20 August 2007
For further information Jack Durrell
Contact number 020 7877 7043 or out of hours 07659 145095
Red Cross invites local authorities to apply for flood appeal money for community led recovery efforts
Red Cross National Floods Appeal reaches £2.8 million
The British Red Cross today, 20 August, announced the distribution criteria for monies raised by the Red Cross National Flood Appeal, and invited local authorities to apply on behalf of local charities.
Funds will be allocated on the basis of the scale and severity of the flooding suffered in a particular area. The distribution will be based on the number of homes that have been affected. Applicants will need to demonstrate how the money will benefit those most in need. The criteria were reached following consultation with local authorities in the affected areas and the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Local Government Association.
Margaret Lally, head of UK service development at the Red Cross, said: “We aim to enable local groups to help those most in need recover from these devastating floods. We will work in partnership with local authorities and through them local charities. This will ensure that the decisions about how these funds are used are taken by those who best understand the needs of people in the affected areas.”
The criteria were agreed by the National Floods Appeal Advisory Panel. The panel is made up of Red Cross branch Presidents from the affected areas and a number of independent experts. It is chaired by Sir Stephen Lamport, group director for public policy and government affairs at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Also on the panel are Simon Lewis, of the Vodafone Group Foundation, and Clare Thomas from the City Bridge Trust.
Sir Stephen said: “The public have been immensely generous and it is now our role to ensure that this money is used fairly and goes to those who need it most. It is important that this happens quickly and in a transparent way.”
The National Floods Appeal has now raised £2.8m. It was launched to help people most in need to rebuild their lives after the devastating floods. The Red Cross has a special role to play in supporting the statutory and emergency services in Britain in times of crisis.
Information about applications to the National Floods Appeal can be found at www.redcross.org.uk/floods
ENDS
Notes to editors
The British Red Cross helps people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. We are part of a global voluntary network, responding to conflicts, natural disasters and individual emergencies.
We enable vulnerable people in the UK and abroad to prepare for and withstand emergencies
in their own communities. And when the crisis is over, we help them to recover and move on
with their lives.
Applications to the appeal fund will be limited to those local authorities where a minimum of 0.3% of the homes in that local authority area were flooded. | 
