RESIDENTS blighted by this year’s devastating floods can now protect their homes from future damage thanks to a new scheme offering £5000 per household.

Wycombe District Council has announced it is rolling out the government's "repair and renew" grant which offers anyone whose property was directly affected by flooding money to pay for measures to prevent future damage.

The offer comes as a major new UN report revealed this week that the effects of Climate Change are already being felt strongly, with the risk of future flooding incidents becoming ever more likely.

The scientific study concluded that global warming will "severe, pervasive and irreversible" impact across the globe, with inland flooding posing an increased danger to communities.

Over 50 properties in Marlow were affected after the wettest winter on record, with homes evacuated on Pound Lane, Lock Road, Firview Close and Gossmore Lane when rising groundwater and near-record river levels submerged whole swathes of the town.

The clean-up operation is still ongoing, with some residents of Garnet Court unable to return to their homes after a mammoth round-the-clock pumping effort to minimise the flood damage in the cul-de-sac.

Grants of £5000 are available to anyone whose living accommodation or ‘day-to-day operational area’ was flooded between December 1 2013 and March 31 this year.

Funding can be put towards the full cost (including VAT) of purchasing and installing appropriate resilience and/or resistance measures for individual properties.

These could include waterproofing external walls, window and door guards and garage and driveway barriers. The grant can also be used to cover the cost of professional surveys.

Groups of residents can even decide to apply collectively to fund wider measures that could benefit a number of homes or businesses.

The launch of the grant, first announced by David Cameron in February, comes on the back of the launch of three flood financial relief schemes announced by WDC this year.

These include an offer up to three months relief from council tax and business rates.

Applications for the £5000 Repair and Renew grant must be submitted to Wycombe District Council by December 31.