Stockbridge residents are calling on a flood defence committee to introduce measures that will stop a repeat of the devastation caused last autumn when the River Aire burst its banks.

The newly formed Stockbridge Neighbourhood Development Group is urging the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee to take an overview of the problems in the area before introducing any new flood defences.

The committee -- which decides what flood defences should be implemented throughout the region -- met in Leeds yesterday to discuss a ten-year plan of action which has been drawn up by the Environment Agency (EA).

As a result of last year's severe floods the EA's plan will highlight the need for a substantial increase in the local authority levies which, together with cash from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), finances flood defence work.

Bradford Council and other local authorities will have to find extra funding this year after the flood defence committee agreed to increase the amount required for defence work to £28.7million -- an increase of 10 per cent from the previous year.

Chairman of the Stockbridge group Andrew Abbott says: "To be honest we don't know what this meeting is for because the EA told us that the situation in Stockbridge was currently being reviewed and that the findings and recommendations would be made known in July.

"We hope the flood defence committee is going to look at Stockbridge as a whole to prevent the flooding we had last year ever happening again.

"We've been told by the EA that they will be looking at the situation in the whole of the Aire Valley before any decisions are taken, which seems sensible to us because there's no point in building a wall at Stockbridge that will cause 400 homes downstream to flood.

"We stand by what we said before, and we hope whatever decisions are made will be in our favour."

The EA's regional flood defence manager, Ken Barton, says: "Although discussions between the agency and local authorities will take place throughout the year, the committee's approval of the ten-year programme is extremely important. It will support the provision of an improved flood defence service for the people of Yorkshire and, as a result, the funding needed to provide that service."

Every April, the Environment Agency presents a long-term plan for capital flood defence work to the regional flood defence committees for its approval.

The agreed programme is then forwarded to MAFF.