YP Letters: Why can’t dredging return to more rivers?

To what extent should rivers be dredged to prevent flooding?

I READ with great interest letters from Dave Croucher (The Yorkshire Post, December 14) and Paul Muller (December 15) regarding flooding and the lack of maintenance on main rivers.

Since the June 2007 floods, the Environment Agency has increased the height of the River Don bank to protect Stainforth from flooding.

Stainforth is a large urban population on the southern Don bank whereas Fishlake, Sykehouse, Bramwith and Braithwaite are small rural villages on the north Don bank with a lot of agricultural land. The Environment Agency’s priority is to protect urban areas first.

Paul Muller’s point about the lack of dredging is a valid one. When the Yorkshire Ouse Catchment Board dredged the River Don under the 1930 Drainage Act, they increased its flow capacity from 4,000 cubic feet per second to 12,000 cubic feet per second and they used the excavated soil to raise the banks by four feet from Goole to Doncaster. What a great drainage scheme this was! It is a great tragedy that this once great scheme is now being neglected by the Environment Agency.