THE latest flood report for the city has shown that installing new pumps at the Foss Barrier may actually cause problems further downstream (The Press, June 27).

This should come as no surprise as the whole basis of this defence is to simply pump the contents of the Foss into the Ouse over the barrier.

So in the event of a flood the barrier makes no difference to the river level beyond it because what flows in, must flow out.

When these new pumps are then installed and a major flood does occur we will then see the Environment Agency face a choice over which parts of the city will take the brunt of the damage.

This would inevitably be followed by the classic blame game of politicians looking to make personal gains just as we have seen with the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

If we are to protect houses in the city against anything that nature can throw then we should look at a bold new project to divert some of the flow around the built-up areas.

A new channel could be dug around the west of the city from Poppleton to Naburn to divert the course of the river.

There would be considerable cost initially yet this could be partially recouped from hydroelectricity.

In the short term dredging the river at least would increase its capacity, which would be more useful than choosing where and who to flood.

Dr Scott Marmion, Woodthorpe, York