JUBILANT residents look to have won their battle for vital flood defences in a village near York.

Flooding chiefs are recommending that up to £220,000 should be provided to build an embankment and sluice at Elvington.

The project would help prevent floodwaters from the River Derwent backing up a beck and into the village, stranding residents by blocking both roads into the community.

Ian Bailey, chairman of Elvington Parish Council, which helped draw up the scheme with help from City of York Council and Environment Agency officers, said today he was "absolutely delighted."

He said: "It's great news for the village, its residents and the local businesses here." He thanked York councillor Andrew Waller, Selby MP John Grogan and the Evening Press for their strong support.

News of the village's success comes only weeks after we revealed how, while Elvington had been missing out on Environment Agency funding for flood defences, the same organization had wasted £30,000 on creating a haven for fish. The lagoon alongside the Derwent at Howsham had to be filled in because the agency had failed to get planning permission.

Mr Bailey yesterday made an impassioned plea for flood defences during a sub-committee meeting of the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence committee. He asked for it to provide money from a levy imposed by the committee on local authorities across Yorkshire and the Humber.

He warned that Elvington's need for defences was a matter of life or death, saying that emergency services were unable to get in when the village was regularly stranded by floodwaters.

Mr Bailey said the consequences could be fatal if someone suffered a heart attack or went into labour, or a house caught fire. "You can't even land a helicopter there," he said.

He also told how the floodwater inevitably became contaminated by raw sewage, so that children ended up wading through sewage on their way to school.

He said that if the funding was provided, the parish would attempt to find extra funding from other sources to pay for a pumping station, which was also needed to pump beck water into the Derwent.

Sub-committee members urged the full regional committee to give the scheme the go-ahead when it meets next month. They also praised parish councillors for their hard work in helping to draw up the project.

"I take my hat off to them," said one member, Robert Pigg.

Updated: 10:09 Tuesday, March 15, 2005