PEOPLE in flood-risk parts of Gloucestershire will still be able to get their homes insured, the Government has announced.
Ministers said yesterday that they had finally reached agreement with the insurance industry to solve the problem.
It was part of a £100 billion modernisation of the UK's infrastructure, which also included money for new homes and road repairs.
It had been feared that a previous agreement, guaranteeing cover for those in flood-risk areas, might not be replaced at the end of July.
But a new arrangement, the Memorandum of Understanding, has been devised.
It will cap flood insurance premiums, linking them to council tax bands so that people will know the maximum they have to pay.
A fund to pay claims for people in high-risk homes will be created by all UK households, paying an average of £10.50 as part of their household insurance premium.
The Association of British Insurers insisted most people's premiums would not rise. It said money from them had always gone towards covering claims but the new agreement would formalise the situation.
John Badham, whose home in Abbey Terrace, Tewkesbury, flooded in 2007, was delighted.
He said: "From Tewkesbury's point of view, it's wonderful, really good news.
"It means my house is sellable and that will be true for 400 to 500 houses in the area."
But he said he realised some people not living in flood-risk areas might be annoyed at having to help pay for the insurers' fund through a levy being added to their premiums.
Dave Witts, of the Tewkesbury-based Severn and Avon Valley Combined Flood Group, said he was pleased that the agreement had been reached but he was still unsure whether premiums and excesses in flood-risk areas would come down because of it.
He said: "It's a good idea that the whole country is contributing to the fund but the people whose homes have flooded have already been penalised through having to pay higher premiums. Insurance companies should take those punitive charges off.
"It's the flood victims who have already been penalised."
He said insurance companies should lower premiums and excesses to the rates they were at before 2007.
