A FLOOD victim was stunned today after plans to protect her home and business at Stamford Bridge from another disaster were suddenly abandoned.

The Environment Agency had intended building flood walls around Jo Barry's clothes shop and nearby bungalow as part of a £1 million scheme for the village.

Both premises were devastated when the River Derwent burst its banks in March 1999 and also in November last year.

But the agency has now amended its proposals, saying it made a mistake when it originally calculated that the wall would comply with cost-benefit criteria laid down by the Government.

However, no one informed Mrs Barry of the decision before the agency submitted an amended planning application to East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and the news was instead broken to her by local councillor Hilary Saynor.

"It came like a bolt out of the blue. I hadn't got a clue," said Mrs Barry. "For the first time in two-and-a-half years, I felt like giving up."

She revealed that hours after hearing the news, the saga took another bizarre twist when consultants acting on behalf of agency contractors knocked at her door, asking to see trees in her garden that would be affected by the flood walls - and she had to tell them that the plans had been scrapped!

Now Mrs Barry fears the flooding risks for her property on the west bank of the river - and also other properties nearby - will actually worsen when the defences go ahead on the other side of the Derwent.

She says the defences will displace floodwaters towards the west bank, raising levels by about six inches.

Coun Saynor, who is also the parish council chairwoman, condemned the agency's decision, saying: "I am extremely concerned. They appear to be abandoning the west side of the village.

"And I am quite appalled at the lateness of this information. If they had said in February this was going to happen, Jo would have been able to plan accordingly."

An agency spokeswoman said that all such schemes had to go through cost-benefit analysis, under which the cost of defences - in this case £100,000 for the walls - had to be balanced against the cost to the country of floods. This calculation had initially been carried out incorrectly at Stamford Bridge.

She blamed a breakdown in lines of communication for the way the consultants had come knocking at Mrs Barry's door. And she said the agency had now contacted Mrs Barry to speak to her about the decision not to protect her properties.

Updated: 11:36 Tuesday, August 21, 2001