UNANIMOUS support was given by West Devon Borough Councillors to the spending of £500,000 on a scheme to provide flood protection for North Tawton.
Following an in-depth discussion at a special meeting in Okehampton, last Tuesday the council agreed to fund the proposal.
The move comes after the council was informed last month that the Government will put £300,000 towards the scheme, which costs more than £800,000, in the form of a grant from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The council has applied for Government approval to borrow the remaining £500,000 for the project.
North Tawton has a long history of flooding problems, with homes having to be evacuated several times and thousands of pounds worth of damage being caused at the height of the floods.
The borough council took the initiative to tackle the flooding problem in 2000, after heavy storms caused the River Taw to flood.
Now after two years of consultation with townspeople and following a detailed report by engineers commissioned by the authority, the project to bring an end to flooding misery for North Tawton residents can go ahead.
North Tawton councillor Nick Morgan, who first brought up the request for a flood defence scheme several years ago, praised officers and councillors for putting the project together in record time. He said it often took communities around ten years to get a flood defence scheme, so everyone involved in this project had worked hard to achieve this success quickly.
'It is a relief for the people who have been flooded in the past to know they don't have to go through that experience again,' added Cllr Morgan.
A public meeting to discuss when work is expected to begin and how the scheme will be managed will be held in North Tawton next month.