Today we took a strong message to John Prescott on behalf of thisisyork and Evening Press readers.

An open letter from Evening Press editor Liz Page to the Deputy Prime Minister was being hand-delivered by Chief Reporter Mike Laycock to the department of the Environment headquarters in London.

The letter reminds Mr Prescott of his visit to North and East Yorkshire during November's floods and of his promise that the Government was making £51m available to protect communities in the future.

It aims to spur him in helping the communities of Malton and Norton, which were hit for the second time in two years when the floods struck the county.

But it also fights on behalf of all those affected by last year's disaster, including communities in Barlby, Selby and York.

Council representatives on the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee yesterday refused to agree to a proposed 63 per cent increase in their levies to the committee to help meet the costs of the disaster.

The letter says: "They deferred a decision until February 2, saying the increase would mean either an unacceptable rise in council tax or an equally unacceptable cut in services.

"And they decided to send a delegation to London to meet you or your colleagues and remind you of what you have promised.

"Deputy Prime Minister, because the committee's deadline is February 2, there is little time left...we look forward to your response."

Barlby Action Group spokeswoman Rosalind Amor said: "We welcome this initiative by the Evening Press, which I'm sure every flood-hit family will back. It seems, yet again, to be all down to money.

"We are suffering financially as well as coping with the devastation and heartache of evacuating our homes."

Howard Keal, whose own Norton home was flooded, said: "It is absolutely excellent that the Evening Press is taking this campaign to the heart of Whitehall.

"We need the Government to show that it is serious about tackling flooding."

The plight of Margaret Walker and many other Rawcliffe residents whose houses flooded in November, was highlighted when Prince Charles visited her Shipton Road home on his visit to the region.

She said: "More than 170 people in Rawcliffe are worried that if flood defences are not put in fast, that we will have to go through that traumatic experience again.

"I would say to John Prescott that after the promise he madethat if he had been through what we have been through he would be there with the money straight up front."

"I wholeheartedly support the Evening Press campaign. I don't think all these different agencies realise just what having a flooded house means."

Updated: 13:45 Friday, January 12, 2001