YORK has been prone to flooding for centuries. If anything, however, things will only get worse. Climate change will see to that, says York’s new flood risk manager Steve Wragg.

“Today’s rare flood events may well be tomorrow’s frequent events,” he says.

It is his job, working closely with the Environment Agency and other organisations to put in place a plan to help the city cope. A new Flood Risk Management Strategy for York will be consulted on later this year. Mr Wragg will also be carrying out a comprehensive assessment of the flood risk the city faces in future - with the aim of identifying which flood defences most urgently need improving. DEFRA funding to make those improvements won’t be easy to come by, however. “We will have to build a very strong case,” Mr Wragg says in The Press today.

So the city will also need to find other ways to manage flood risk. New developments near water courses - such as Germany Beck - are now expected to include detailed flood alleviation measures to ensure they don’t increase the flood risk to neighbours or those downstream.

Homes in flood-risk areas may also have to be better flood-proofed - with waterproof doors and windows and hard floors impervious to water.

The floods are here to stay, it seems. We may just have to get better at dealing with them.