Well, once again York has a bit of rising water. It is becoming clear to me that in the ten years that I have lived in and around here that City of York Council and the Environment Agency have very little idea of how to reduce this annual event.

When I was growing up in London we regularly saw dredgers up and down the Thames. They would take the silt, mud, trees, straw bales - anything that was washed down on the flow - out to sea and dispose of it.

Now I may be wrong, but I do believe that the Ouse which flows through York eventualy runs out to sea.

So why doesn't everyone concerned get a dredger and start reducing the silt and muck and rubbish from the river?

This in turn would reduce water levels during the flood season and, more importantly, save taxpayers' homes from flooding.

Its no good just chucking up another flood wall like they have done in Selby, because all that does send the flooding elsewhere - or maybe thats what City of York Council wants, to give the responsibilty to another local council.

It's about time we taxpayers got some benefits from City of York Council. Flood defences, nice as they are, do not cure the problem, because in ten years time there will be more silt and sludge and muck and debris and the millions that we are spending on flood defences now just will not be adequate.

Graham Watson, Buller Street, Selby.