RYEDALE'S MP has slammed the "madness" of a Government policy that meant Pickering missed out on much-campaigned-for anti-flood measures.

At a meeting of the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee in Leeds on Thursday, members confirmed the decision it made in January to shelve the Pickering.

Members of Pickering Flood Defence Group heard that their £6.7m scheme for Pickering Beck would only become a higher priority if the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) changed its scoring system - or the town suffered more floods.

Area flood defence manager Peter Holmes said: "Every flood will change the way we calculate the flood risk - the more floods you get the more likely you will be to get a flood defence scheme."

But John Greenway, MP for Ryedale, said: "There have been three floods already, and I don't honestly see why there needs to be another flood in order to create a higher point score.

"This is the madness of the new point scoring system that the Government has introduced. Pickering people have had enough experience of flooding already."

In the wake of the devastating floods of autumn 2000, Pickering was one of a group of towns given special status by DEFRA that promised a fast-track route to flood defences. The special status granted by the Government expired on March 31 and representations from the agency for an extension were thrown out by ministers.

A lobby by a dozen members of Pickering Flood Defence Group failed last Thursday to persuade members of the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee to support the Pickering flood defence schem.

85-year-old Topsy Clinch, 85, from Beck Isle, Pickering, described how her 18th-century former mill cottage had been flooded twice, causing £375,000-worth of damage, and circulated photographs of her inundated home.

But Peter Holmes, Environment Agency Dales flood defence manager, recommended that the committee should confirm the decision it made in January to shelve the Pickering scheme because of its low benefit-to-cost ratio - it will protect only 60 homes and businesses.

He suggested alternative measures, including a flood forecasting and warning service, and further maintenance of Pickering Beck.

Pickering will now stay in the agency's long-term plan for flood defences for Yorkshire and the Humber.

Following the meeting, Mr Holmes said that a proposal for flood defences was made in 2001 but "the people of Pickering wanted us to do more work on the scheme. We went ahead with an in-depth feasibility study and this is what has cost the best part of £700,000.

"If we could have gone ahead with the original scheme in 2001, the likelihood is it would have been built by now.

"Other towns readily accepted our plans for protection from flooding, but Pickering wanted more than we were originally proposing and we never wanted to force a scheme on a community that it didn't want."

Gordon Clitheroe, chairman of Pickering Flood Defence Group, vowed to continue the campaign, saying: "We are going to be a thorn in the side of the Environment Agency until Pickering is protected."

Updated: 10:45 Wednesday, April 21, 2004