RESIDENTS have backed plans for a £6.5 million upgrade of flood defences which protect 500 homes in the Leeman Road area of York.

The Environment Agency held a drop-in session yesterday at St Barnabas Church Hall about its proposals to boost embankments which came perilously close to being overtopped when the nearby River Ouse burst its banks in November 2000.

Officers said they wanted to hear about residents’ experiences of flooding in previous years, and were also on hand to answer questions.

Ian and Margaret Cammidge, of Stephenson Way, said their property came very close to flooding in 2000 and they fully supported efforts to strengthen the defences.

Mrs Cammidge said: “It was very worrying.”

Another resident, of Jubilee Terrace, said her home had been flooded when she was a child and she had enjoyed it, ferrying people around in a boat. But she now wanted the security of knowing her property would not be inundated.

Beth Gardner, manager of the Leeman Road project, said feedback from the drop-in session would be used as the agency came to draw up options later this year, which would also be put to residents.

She said one option would be to raise the embankment which directly protects the area from the Ouse. But in the Water End area space was limited and a different option would be to build a new flood wall.

The agency believes that flood risk alongside the Ouse is likely to increase with climate change over the coming century.

The Press has reported previously the current standard of protection at Leeman Road is one of the lowest in York.

A Government minister, said funding was available for a start on work in 2012, but said the agency’s medium-term plan was subject to national prioritisation and this could change.

York MP Hugh Bayley, who visited the drop-in session, said he was pleased the agency was consulting with residents who had experienced flooding or a near miss previously, and was planning to upgrade its defences.

“It has been a long time coming,” he said.