MP presses for flood defence pledge

York Central Labour MP Hugh Bayley has tabled a Parliamentary question to get the coalition Government to fix a date for further public consultation about the flood alleviation project for Water End and Leeman Road.

He has been lobbying for a timetable to be set to improve the Leeman Road flood defences since the devastating floods of 2000.

Mr Bayley said: "Some areas are now better protected, but the initial proposal for Water End and Leeman Road has only just come out. We were told there would be further public consultation in September, but it has been delayed.

"I have tabled a question in the House of Commons to find out when the delayed consultation will take place. This scheme must not become a casualty of the public expenditure cuts."

Defences built in the early 1980s to reduce the risk of flooding to more than 500 properties were some of the first in York in a project known as the Leeman Road scheme. The floods in 2000 meant the existing defences were nearly breached, with sandbags needed to add height to them.