Plans for a new £1 million primary school at Barlby were today under threat after local councillors claimed the land was part of the village's flood plain.

The school land - almost opposite the Wain Homes estate which was the first area to flood - is still under more than two feet of water.

North Yorkshire County Council, which owns the land, said they were currently assessing the implications of the recent flooding on the building of the new Barlby Hill Top primary school.

A council spokesman said it would be having a re-think about the proposed site, but at present all its efforts were being diverted into managing the flooding crisis.

Barlby parish councillor Brian Marshall welcomed the re-think, which he said would not have been necessary if county hall had listened to local people's concerns earlier.

He said: "That land is part of the village's flood plain - as is the Wain Homes estate - as everyone can clearly see at the moment."

Coun Marshall said the parish council also objected to the Wain Homes development because it was part of the flood plain.

He said: "We were dead against it, but we were told that the floods of 1947 could never happen again. Tragically, we have been proved correct.

"We have got to look at the maps again - we can't put families through this misery again."

Countryside Minister Elliott Morley told MPs this week that many of the houses flooded at Barlby were built in 1995 in a flood risk area.

He told the House of Commons: "Such considerations need to be taken into account with regard to such developments."

Kevin Darley, who lives in Leeds Road, Selby, claimed today that part of the land on which 500 new homes are to be built between Leeds Road and Crosshills Lane was also washland.

He said the flood plain encroached on to the land, which was near Selby Dam, and was currently under water.

"The new link road for the proposed houses will have to cross the flood plain. Selby District Council should be seriously looking at whether it is wise to go ahead with these houses," said Mr Darley.

Selby District Council principal planning officer Richard Borrows said in relation to the Wain Homes estate, the then National Rivers Authority did not identify the land as a flood risk and had no objections.

Mr Borrows said: "The reality is we are having unprecedented rainfalls and people are looking for scapegoats."

* Large numbers of police officers are patrolling Selby area streets and will deal with any looters, Chief Supt Anthony MacDermott, said today.