SOUTH Lakes MP Tim Farron has called for insurers to look first to make use of local builders and tradespeople. 

Many insurance companies are currently involved in repair work in South Lakeland and other areas affected by the floods, yet Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron says it is common for the insurance companies to bring in building contractors and tradespeople from outside the area to complete the work. 

Mr Farron has written to insurance companies, as well as to the Association of British Insurers, to ask them to give first consideration to local builders and tradespeople. 

He said: “The floods in December were devastating for our area. However, we now need to make sure that the local area benefits as much as possible from the task of rebuilding everything that was damaged, and insurance companies have a role to play in this. 

"I am calling on insurance companies to do everything they can to try to use local builders and tradespeople, rather than bringing them in from outside, so that the local economy as a whole can benefit from the work that is undertaken.”