The scheme is named after a 1980s environment minister, Lord Bellwin, who, as Irwin Bellow had been leader of Leeds City Council from 1975 to 1979. In 1983, Bellwin introduced the compensation scheme, which was incorporated in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and revised in 2014.Pickles announces shake-up of emergency funds after flooding, BBC Democracy Live, 6 February 2014. Retrieved: 8 December 2015.
