WORKING with nature must surely be the best way to create new flood defences.

The recent briefing I received from the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission and the North Yorkshire Moors National Park Authority updated me on progress so far in creating natural barriers to retain the water flowing upstream, thereby preventing future flooding in Pickering .

The debate on the relative costs and benefits of so-called hard and soft flood defences, or more engineered ones versus more natural means of defence, is intensifying.

Clearly the disappointment in Pickering was acute when the bunds upstream were abandoned in the summer of 2011 when the civil engineer assigned to sign off the construction refused to do so on the grounds that properties in the vicinity might be placed at greater risk of flooding.

The Pickering ‘slow the flow’ scheme is a pilot project attracting national attention. If successful, similar schemes could be created in other parts of the country.

Lord Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency, recently visited the project to see for himself the benefits of the scheme, with trees and other natural debris being used to stem the flow of water in flood conditions.

Mini-dams and bogs are being created allowing water to be retained naturally in times of excess rainfall.

While clearly not retaining the massive amounts that a reservoir would be able to, the costs are infinitely less. In times of economic restraint, it makes sense to use limited resources as sensibly and practically as possible.

The plan is still to create a smaller dam which will need to be signed off and approved by the Institution of Civil Engineers’ assigned engineer.

In our recent report on the Natural Environment White Paper, the select committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs concluded that projects like Pickering ‘slow the flow’ are class leaders of their type, and that they should also qualify going forward for payments for eco-system services.

How would this work? Say, for example, that a water company wants to work with local landowners on water management schemes upstream, they would be able to pay them for these services.

Already farmers and landowners can use such land management practices to qualify for environment stewardship schemes under the Common Agricultural Policy. Extending such services to the private sector opens up all sorts of opportunities which would be good for the countryside, good for the environment and particularly beneficial for the people of Pickering.