AN INDEPENDENT panel has been appointed to lead an inquiry into the Boxing Day floods.

The team of one woman and two men will scrutinise how York coped with last winter's devastating floods, which destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses across the city.

Chairwoman Angharad Davies will head the inquiry as it looks into the information provided to residents, the response of key organisations and the failure of the Foss Barrier.

Organisations will be asked to give their account of the floods to the inquiry team and those who were affected will also be invited to give evidence.

Leaders of all four political groups at City of York Council were involved in the panel selection process.

A statement said: “It’s important that as a council we do everything we can to answer residents’ questions and ensure lessons can be learned for the future.

"This review will help us to get a much clearer picture of what happened and what steps need to be taken to try to prevent flooding like this in the future."

Ms Davies is a self employed barrister and originally developed a common law practice from Chambers in York.

She has since specialised in civil, regulatory and employment law and is now based from St Paul’s Chambers in Leeds.

Laurence Waterhouse and Tom Toole will join Ms Davies on the panel.

Mr Waterhouse holds more than 40 year's experience in flood risk and river management across the globe.

He was also chairman of the National Flood Forum in which he gave evidence to the Pitt Review on the 2007 floods and at the committee stage of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 in Parliament.

Mr Toole has an extensive career in the water industry which started with Consulting Engineers in the North of England, where he worked until becoming a chartered engineer in 1975 when he moved toYorkshire Water.

He was frequently involved in expert witness work for nine years, including one case in the Republic of Ireland when flooding was caused by design errors and the failure of mechanical equipment.