Council tries for £9m in battle against flooding

The authority is asking the Environment Agency to back major storage schemes in Great Gutter Valley, in Willerby, Northmoor Lane, Cottingham, and in Westella Valley.

Large lagoons would be dug to hold water to reduce the risk of flooding in those areas, as well as in Kirkella, Anlaby, and Hull's Derringham ward and Orchard Park estate.

Similar projects are also proposed in Bilton, Beeford and Thorngumbald.

The bids are the latest attempt to prevent a repeat of the devastation caused by the 2007 floods.

The council is also working on a surface water management plan.

It has already embarked on 176 rural and urban schemes costing 3.7m to protect the East Riding.

These range from smaller schemes costing under 7,500 to large projects worth in excess of 100,000.

A total 77 have been completed and are operational, 24 are under way, while a further 47 schemes should start this year.

Since the floods a drainage enforcement engineer has been appointed by the council, who works with landowners, the people responsible for maintaining ditches and watercourses on their property, to enable the free passage of water. Coun Matthew Grove, portfolio holder for highway maintenance, streetscene and emergency planning said: "The flood prevention work is ongoing and we are working closely with local communities combining their local knowledge alongside the council's expertise and resources.

"A key feature of a land drainage scheme is sustainability. In developing land drainage schemes we need to ensure we don't move the problem elsewhere. The council has been recognised for good practice in this area."

Doreen Curley, spokeswoman for the Shiptonthorpe riparian owners' action group, added: "The local community has worked to identify funding and undertake works and has worked well with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, councillors and land drainage department, to resolve difficult and complex drainage issues."

The authority has also resorted to enforcement action under the Land Drainage Act where necessary to ensure watercourses are cleared to reduce the risk of local flooding. More than 600 cases have been recorded so far.

The council admitted it had been "stretched to its limit" by the floods, which damaged 6,019 homes and 93 businesses.

In neighbouring Hull, the worst-affected local authority in the country during the 2007 floods, more than 8,000 homes and hundreds of businesses were affected.