YP Letters: New canals are needed to manage flooding

THE York flooding is essentially caused by excess water from the Ouse, Nidd, Swale and Ure catchments, which drain about one seventh of the Humber Basin.

The way to deal with the problem is at source. I use the analogy of the heart bypass I had 20 years ago, and without which I would have died. The answer is to build a canal from above York, at the confluence of the Ouse and Nidd, to the Wharfe east of Tadcaster, with small canals round Selby and Cawood.

The Humber basin needs to be controlled by local river authorities who are accountable locally.

A similar canal has been dug around Maidenhead, Windsor and Eton (the Jubilee Canal). It cost £7m but hey, we can’t have Eton flooding! There’s also one in Cambridgeshire to the Wash following disastrous loss of life some years ago.

The cost of flood defences are based on the amount and value of property etc. to be saved, and does not take account of future savings greater than the expenditure, which would make this canal very cost-effective.

Unfortunately the politicians in charge of such infrastructure consider getting somewhere 20 minutes faster by train a much more important use of our money, and more profitable for their businesss friends.