ENVIRONMENT secretary Liz Truss visited Worcester today to insist more is being done to protect the county from chaotic flooding.

The 39-year-old, Britain's youngest ever female Cabinet Secretary, went to look at Worcester Bridge and the Hylton Road flood defences as part of a city tour.

The Conservative, one of David Cameron's high-fliers, said she was confident Worcester is making huge strides in flood resilience and added the city would get a fair deal from the Government in future investment.

Mrs Truss was also shown New Road, where £1 million will be invested into some kind of engineering work to offer it more protection from floods.

"I am very impressed with what I've seen and what I really liked is the amount of intelligence that has gone into flood resilience here," she said.

"For the first time ever we've got a six-year programme to improve flood defences and we are shortly about to announce which areas will benefit next.

"In an area like Worcester, with the city so close to the River Severn I know how important protection from flooding is."

She also rejected claims that areas like Worcestershire have been put at risk from flooding, saying a report from the National Audit Office last month which stated overall defence funding has declined 10 per cent since 2010 was wrong.

During February's floods the main Worcester Bridge had to be shut, causing severe problems to traders, workers and motorists trying to get through the city.

It ended up costing taxpayers £640,000 to deal with, with 108 homes and 55 businesses affected.

"We've spent £3.2 billion on flood resilience in this parliament compared to £2.7 billion in the last one," said Mrs Truss.

"We're also assessing it methodically - with all the money we award we look at how many more homes will benefit and what it will do to the local economy.

"We do the same for transport spending, it's looked at on a cost-to-benefit basis and that makes the difference."

After her time in the city she went to the Pump House Environmental Centre to meet staff as well as Worcester Warriors owner Cecil Duckworth, chair of the Duckworth Worcestershire Trust, which manages the facility.

Worcester MP Robin Walker and Councillor Simon Geraghty, city council deputy leader, showed her around.

The £1 million project for New Road is expected to be finalised next year after the Government agreed to stump up £700,000 towards it following a bid by Worcestershire's Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).