A £2 MILLION scheme to improve flood defences in a North Yorkshire town has been given the final go-ahead, and work could start in the autumn.

North Yorkshire County Council today approved plans for a series of flood storage embankments and dams in Pickering which are aimed at protecting residents in the town after four major floods since 1999.

The project is designed to slow the flow of water running into the town and the Environment Agency said the scheme on Pickering Beck would protect the area from a one-in-25-year flood. The plans were backed by the North York Moors National Park Authority last month but a decision still needed to be made by the county council, whose planning committee met today.

Innes Thomson, the Environment Agency's flood risk manager, said: "We are delighted at today's decision to supprot the Slowing the Flow project, and this is a very important step towards the realisation of a reduction in flood risk to the town."

"We have worked hard with our partners to develop a robust scheme, which will work together with all the other measures which have been put in place. Credit is due to all those who have assisted in getting the project to where it is today, and we are confident we now have a viable scheme which will deliver the protection Ryedale District Council has asked us to achieve."

He said details of the scheme would now be finalised and construction work should start in the autumn. It is expected to take between six and nine months to complete, depending on weather.

The North York Moors Railway had objected to the scheme over concerns about construction work disrupting its operation, but the defences were backed by Pickering Town Council, the Ramblers' Association and Natural England as well as local flood campaigners. Previous flooding in Pickering has caused damage running into millions of pounds.