Clegg to visit flood-hit Morpeth

He will see how the recovery process is going after the flood on September 6, including meeting some of those affected by it in the High Stanners area.

Mr Clegg will also be shown the River Wansbeck and streets in Morpeth town centre, while he will meet with members of Castle Morpeth Council and Northumberland County Council and officers involved with the clean up operation to talk about the road to recovery.

The MP for Sheffield Hallam came to Morpeth earlier this year in March and visited the Cottage Hospital before holding a Question and Answer session at Morpeth Town Hall.

Mr Clegg will join a Borough Council initiative to help find some of the 200 'missing' households forced out of their homes by the floods and who are currently unaccounted for.

He said: "The town has pulled together in a remarkable way. It is clear that officials have learned lessons from disastrous clean-up attempts elsewhere in the country.

"Most heartening, however, has been the huge generosity of spirit shown by people across the North East. The community's response to such devastation shows what's best about living in Britain today.

"The absolute priority now must be to ensure that this can never happen again."

Ahead of Mr Clegg's visit, Liberal Democrat MEP for the North East, Fiona Hall said: "I hope the speed and efficiency of Morpeth's recovery programme will impress Nick, particularly the way in which the local community has rallied together to provide support both at the times of the flood, and one month on.

"As a northern MP whose own constituency was flooded last year, Nick really understands the anxieties local people are feeling."