RESIDENTS of Haydon Bridge were left furious after a meeting to discuss a long-awaited flood report was cancelled – because of Brexit.

The Environment Agency had been due to meet residents on April 8 to showcase the results of an updated flood model for the Tyne Valley.

Residents had been waiting four years to find out the results. The model was commissioned after 2015’s Storm Desmond.

However, the agency sent residents a letter cancelling the meeting.

A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said: “We recently postponed an event to meet with the residents of Haydon Bridge and Lipwood to discuss the results of the Tyne Valley Flood Model Update.

“Following Storm Desmond in 2015, we have been working to update the flood model for Haydon Bridge to improve our understanding of flood risk.

“The meeting was due to take place on April 8, but in order to support Brexit preparations and ensure that we were prepared for any environmental incidents that may have arisen, we needed more of our staff to work on contingency preparations.

“Unfortunately this had an impact on some of the other things we had planned to do.”

Parish council vice-chairwoman Eileen Charlton said residents were not happy with the cancellation.

She said: “We were absolutely furious. We’ve waited for four years.

“Places like Corbridge have had flood studies. We seem to be at the end of the queue for everything. Fifty eight people have had flooding in their houses.”

However, the Environment Agency said it would be rescheduling the meeting.

“The meeting with the community at Haydon Bridge and Lipwood is very important to us,” the spokeswoman added.

“We are working with the local parish council to re-schedule the engagement event in the next few weeks.”