THE flood defence proposals for York outlined today by the Environment Agency are both detailed and ambitious in scope.

Using the £45 million of new government funding, plus £15 million already in the kitty, the agency has come up with suggestions to protect ten key areas of the city.

The main proposals include: l Removable flood barriers for King’s Staith l Removable barriers - possibly made from super-strength glass - to extend the height of existing flood defence walls at Marygate and North Street l Raising the embankment at Rawcliffe to protect Shipton Road l Dredging parts of the Foss (though not the Ouse) l Modifying Naburn weir so that it could be lowered to release flood water more quickly l Proper flood defences for Clementhorpe l New pumping stations at the Blue Beck in Rawcliffe.

Not everyone will agree with all the proposals. But the Environment Agency has stressed that nothing is yet set in stone. The plans are available to view online, and there will be a public exhibition at Hotel 53 in Piccadilly on November 25 and 26.

If you have views on the best way to spend the significant pot of flood defence money available for York, then now is the time to make them known.

But the Environment Agency proposals - which are in addition to the £17 million upgrade of the Foss Barrier - seem like a pretty good start to us.

York faces a future of ever-more-severe floods because of global warming. But if we can get all or most of these proposals in place within the next five years, we should hopefully be in better shape to deal with them.