CAMPAIGNERS have vowed to fight on to win flood defences for a North Yorkshire town after their pleas for a change of heart were rejected by regional environment chiefs.

A lobby by a dozen members of Pickering Flood Defence Group failed to persuade members of the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee to go against Environment Agency advice and support proposals for a £6.7 million scheme for Pickering Beck.

But people in nearby Malton and Norton have been given the chance to have their say on six prime local sites, which can now be developed, partly because of the towns' £7.5 million flood defences.

At yesterday's regional flood defence committee meeting in Leeds, 85-year-old Topsy Clinch, from Beck Isle, Pickering, described how her 18th century former mill cottage had been flooded twice, causing £375,000-worth of damage, and circulated photographs of her inundated home.

But Peter Holmes, Environment Agency Dales flood defence manager, recommended that the committee should confirm the decision it made in January, to shelve the Pickering scheme because of its low benefit to cost ratio - it will protect only 60 homes and businesses.

He suggested alternative measures, including a flood forecasting and warning service, and further maintenance of Pickering Beck.

Pickering will now stay in the agency's long-term plan for flood defences for Yorkshire and the Humber.

Gordon Clitheroe, chairman of Pickering Flood Defence Group, vowed to continue the campaign, saying: "We are going to be a thorn in the side of the Environment Agency until Pickering is protected."

Meanwhile, Ryedale District Council is staging a two-day exhibition at the Milton Rooms, Malton, on Friday, April 30, and Saturday May 1, to seek views on options for land between the Malton and Norton, near the River Derwent.

Julian Rudd, the council's forward planning manager, said the exhibition, which will run from 2pm to 8pm on Friday, and from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, will set out a range of development options for each of six sites.

They are: Yorkshire Woolgrowers and adjoining land at Welham Road, the ATS site in Commercial Street, the former Dewhirst clothing factory site, and the riverside and bus station site, all in Norton, and the former Travis Perkins site and the Sheepfoot Hill area, both in Malton.

Updated: 10:26 Friday, April 16, 2004