MORE than half a billion pounds is set to be spent on flood defences across the Yorkshire region in the next ten years.

A massive hike in spending on defences by the Environment Agency has been agreed by the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee.

The 60 per cent increase will take the value of the long-term plan for Yorkshire and Humberside to £523 million, compared to £312 million agreed only last year.

The boost follows a recent Government decision to provide extra funding through a new capital block grant system.

The agency's Regional Flood Defence Manager, Ken Barton, said the ten-year plan would tackle all the major problems that needed to be addressed in the region.

He stressed that the money would only be spent if funding was agreed throughout by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Committee members backed the increase, while insisting that local authorities would not have to contribute anything more than the ten per cent increase per annum in their levy to the committee, already agreed for the next few years.

Mr Barton said: "The vast sums of money we are proposing to spend clearly illustrates our determination to improve the quality of life for people living in areas which are at risk of flooding from main rivers."

Later, the committee gave the go-ahead for flood defence work to start next month at Stamford Bridge. Committee members expected an increase in costs for the scheme to £3.1 million, from the estimate last summer of £2.6 million.

The committee was told that the scheme, which won the backing of DEFRA only last week, would protect all the shops in the centre, and also the A166 York to Bridlington road which runs through the village.

Agency officers said only the Corn Mill and the Weir Caravan Park could not be protected. The scheme would increase the risk of flooding at the caravan park because it effectively squeezed the River Derwent, raising flood levels.

The committee was told that work would now start in May in the hope that defences would be fully watertight before the next winter flooding season. The decision marked the final stage in the Evening Press's campaign, launched in 2000, to protect the village from flooding.

Updated: 08:51 Friday, April 11, 2003