'We can solve town's flooding problems' (From Gazette & Herald)

'We can solve town's flooding problems'

A REVOLUTIONARY system of flood defences could save Pickering from further inundation - at a fraction of the cost of the Environment Agency's shelved proposals, a company has claimed.

Instant Barrage Services (IBS) says it has investigated the possible use of its "modular flood control barrage system" upstream of Pickering to protect the town, and it believes it is quite feasible.

Director Jonathan Palmer says a series of four dams could be built to create large temporary water storage areas after heavy rain on the North York Moors.

The dams, using large bags of hard-wearing material and containing rubberised filters which would soak up flood waters, would hold back enough of the flow to ensure that Pickering Beck did not burst its banks as it passed through the market town.

Each dam would have a pipe in the middle to allow normal flows of beck water to pass through unhindered. Towards the top would be overflow pipes which would come into use when levels in the storage ponds rose high. Work would be carried out to ensure the nearby North York Moors Railway track was not affected by floodwater.

He says his company would be happy to provide the materials free of charge, in return for the positive publicity it would receive, and he estimated the cost of installation might come to £500,000. That compares with the £6.7m estimated cost of the Environment Agency's scheme to build flood defence barriers alongside the beck as it runs through the town, which failed to win the go-ahead earlier this year because of high costs.

Mr Palmer said he planned to present details of his scheme to the agency this week.

A representative of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, John Lindley, who witnessed some of the bags being tested out on a river similar to Pickering Beck, said he had been impressed by the proposal. He said he planned to attend a meeting of the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee in Leeds on April 15 to press the Environment Agency to fully investigate the scheme.

Mr Palmer said he had raised the proposal with Ryedale MP John Greenway.

The MP said: "Obviously, I can't speak about the technical situation, but I am extremely interested in the proposal. I want to raise it with the agency and am planning a site visit later this month."

Gordon Clitheroe, chairman of the Pickering Flood Action Group, said the group would be interested to hear about the proposals in detail.

Peter Holmes, area flood defence manager for the Environment Agency, said: "We have received some information from Instant Barrage Services with their proposal for a flood storage solution for Pickering. Clearly, this is a very technical issue so it is far too early to comment as this stage, but we will be interested to look at the proposal in more detail."

Updated: 11:03 Wednesday, April 07, 2004