Rethink call over 'unacceptable' plans to manage floods in region

The agency is planning to close three pumping stations on the River Hull, which would leave great swathes of valuable farmland at the mercy of the elements.

It says it cannot continue to maintain pumping stations at Wilfholme, Hempholme or Tickton as they do not operate when the river is high and therefore do not meet Government funding criteria.

It is now consulting over its revised Hull and Coastal Streams Catchment Flood Management Plan and its River Hull Flood Risk Management Strategy, which aims to manage the flood risk from the River Hull over the next 100 years.

East Riding Council – which forced the withdrawal of previous proposals by threatening legal action – said even though some of its concerns had been addressed, the agency had not gone far enough.

A report by Steve Button, the council's director of policy, partnerships and improvement, said: "In addressing the council's previous concerns on its catchment flood management plans, the EA has produced a broad high level strategy but the detail implementation proposals for such a strategy are unacceptable to the council.

"It clearly falls to the flood risk management strategies to spell out the spatial, social, economic and environmental consequences of particular actions or inactions.

"These appear quite substantial and, in the East Riding's case, potentially primarily negative."

The agency says funding for the three stations, which are on the "Middle Hull", will be limited to 240,000 over the next 20 years, equivalent to only two years' running costs.

In contrast, it is spending 109m maintaining defences on the Lower Hull over the next two decades.

The council recognised that spending on publicly funded projects had become "more difficult", the report said.

It added: "However, the council feels that the EA should be arguing its case and trying to defend communities on a more equitable (social and environmental) basis, rather than what appears to be purely economic."

Earlier this week, the National Farmers' Union said there was a growing "chorus of dismay" over the proposals. It also feared other pumping stations in Yorkshire could be axed.

It is estimated a repeat of the 2007 floods would cause 13m of damage to farming businesses in the area.

NFU president Peter Kendall said: "Having seen first hand the impact of flooding in the region, such a move would severely damage the competitiveness of agriculture and horticulture on the banks of the Hull."

Thomasin Meadley, Hull strategy manager at the agency, said its main concern was to protect people and property.

She said: "Consultation on the draft River Hull Strategy continues for another four weeks and we welcome the council's comments, and its support for early discussions on setting up steering groups to explore future funding arrangements.

"Our top priority is protecting people and homes and we have to spend public money to support that priority.

"The draft strategy proposes continued flood protection for 5,500 hectares of farmland and includes plans to maintain pumps for an additional five years, which we will use to work with communities and organisations, including the council, to identify how we can best target available funding and explore possible options."