Report by Local Democracy Reporter – Jon Cooper
A vulnerable flood-prone neighbourhood of a North Derbyshire town where an elderly woman lost her life during Storm Babet has been selected for a £200,000 project as part of a massive Government roll-out of £1.4 billion of flood defence funding for similar schemes across the country.
Derbyshire police confirmed Maureen Gilbert, died aged 83, at her home on Tapton Terrace, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on October 21, 2023, after her neighbourhood was flooded during Storm Babet in October, 2023.
The Government has this month confirmed Tapton Terrace, of Chesterfield, is due to receive £200,000 for a defence project from a share of £1.4bn of flood defence funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to support the Environment Agency with schemes across England.
Floods Minister Emma Hardy said: “Flooding can turn lives upside down in a matter of hours, destroying homes, shutting down businesses and leaving communities facing months of heartbreak and recovery.
“This £1.4bn investment will help protect tens of thousands of homes and businesses across the country and strengthen the defences families rely on when the worst happens.
“We’ve already stepped in to stabilise our flood assets after years of decline and this funding goes further, creating thousands of jobs, protecting communities from billions of pounds of damage, and unlocking new homes and businesses in places made safer from flooding.”
During Storm Babet, between October 18 to 21, in 2023, around 1,600 properties were flooded in Derbyshire which led to an investigation into the emergency by Derbyshire County Council – the county’s Lead Local Flood Authority – with plans to help those parts of the county that flooded either from surface water or from river flooding.
The body of Maureen Gilbert was found at her home on Tapton Terrace, in Chesterfield, on the morning of October 21, 2023, by her son Paul Gilbert, a Chesterfield Coroners Court heard in September, 2025.
Coroner Matthew Kewley ruled that Mrs Gilbert had died in her home ‘due to drowning in flood waters due to Storm Babet’.
The court heard that the property concerned is located next to the River Rother and was prone to flooding with the property previously suffering flood damage in 2007.
Additional flood prevention measures were installed at a number of properties at Tapton Terrace in 2019, including Mrs Gilbert’s house, but they were not sufficient to stop the 2023 floods, according to the inquest into Mrs Gilbert’s death.
The Coroner indicated plans to issue a prevention of future deaths report following the inquest to examine what measures could be implemented to reduce risks for Tapton Terrace residents.
Despite the tragedy, flood prevention measures during Storm Babet did protect as many as 7,000 properties from flooding in Derbyshire, according to the county council, although some communities were isolated for days with some areas of Chesterfield seeing three to four feet of floodwater in their homes.
Tapton Terrace has subsequently been selected to receive £200,000 of Government funding for a defence project to protect the area from an identified risk of river flooding.
It is now among tens of thousands of homes and businesses across England which are expected to be better protected from flooding with investment to construct new flood schemes and upgrade existing flood defences, after an Environment Agency announcement on March 17.
More than 600 projects will be funded to help better protect tens of thousands of homes and businesses this year, according to the EA, with schemes ranging from improved flood barriers and embankments to natural flood management to slow the flow of water before it reaches communities with coastal flood defence projects that reduce the risk of flooding.
The projects have been dubbed by the Government as part of the largest flood defence programme in English history with at least £10.5bn invested between 2024 and 2036 to protect homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure from the growing threat of flooding including the £1.4bn investment in flood defences for the 2026-27 financial year.
Environment Agency flood defences, including those damaged by Storms Goretti and Chandra, will also be allocated £260m for repairs and maintenance ensuring vital protections remain strong when communities need them most.
The Government also claims that investment in flood defences is expected to shield the economy from more than £10bn of potential losses.
Caroline Douglass, Environment Agency Executive Director for Flood and Coastal Risk Management, said: “This investment allows the Environment Agency and our partners to continue our work needed to protect communities from flooding.
“In partnership with local authorities, homes and businesses will benefit from stronger defences with more than 600 schemes being delivered across England.”
Major schemes already underway to help protect communities from flooding and coastal erosion include the £37m second phase of the Our City Our River programme in Derby to reduce flood risk for around 1,500 homes and 700 businesses along the River Derwent, safeguarding critical infrastructure including Rolls-Royce Nuclear.
The first phase of this programmes has already protected more than 1,100 homes and 400 businesses, according to the EA.
Other Derbyshire areas benefiting include Derbyshire Dales, the Ashbourne Flood Storage Reservoir, Cotton Brook upper Culvert Renewal in the Peartree Road area, of Derby, Melbourne Flood Alleviation Scheme, in South Derbyshire, and a Property Resilience Scheme in Amber Valley.
Flood defence investment is expected to see more natural flood management used to hold back water in the landscape and lessen wave energy at the coast with measures such as tree planting, re‑naturalising rivers, and saltmarsh restoration, helping to strengthen flood resilience while also delivering wider benefits for nature and society, according to the Government.
Defra and the EA recognise flooding can cause immediate and severe harm to homes, businesses and communities so they say making strong defences is critical for families and local economies.
So far since 2024, the Government has invested £2.65bn in flood defences, prioritising repairs and maintenance to reverse what it calls years of decline, with a further £4.2bn committed over the next three years to construct new schemes and maintain existing defences.
The EA explained a Flood Resilience Taskforce, including the Government, emergency responders and local partners, has been working since September 2024 to assess the impact of recent winter storms and to accelerate action to protect communities.
This initiative has led to the training of over 1,500 emergency responders as well as introducing an improved forecasting service for surface water flooding.
Ms Douglass added: “From major flood barriers and strengthened embankments to natural flood management and coastal defence projects, we’re combining engineering and nature-based solutions to reduce flood risk and build long-term resilience for communities across the country.”
Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet also recently approved the addition of two Flood Risk Management Schemes into its Highways Capital Programme for the 2026-27 financial year after considering a report at a meeting on March 12.
An £84,000 Matlock Property Flood Resilience scheme aims to provide better measures to protect seven frequently flooded properties on Mettesford and Lilybank Close, in Matlock, in the Derbyshire Dales and the Peak District.
Funding for the Matlock scheme has been sourced externally by the Flood Risk Management team from the Defra and from a Local Levy mechanism to be collected by the council to finance flood defences.
And the second more extensive £700,000 scheme for natural flood management across Ockbrook, Draycott and Breaston, in Erewash, aims to lower the risk of flooding from surface water and ‘ordinary watercourses’ to potentially 75 properties and to a section of the Midland Mainline railway line.
