WATER companies should be legally forced to upgrade their systems to cope with increased flooding risks, York councillors will argue next week.

A motion by Liberal Democrat councillor Madeleine Kirk will voice concern over the rising threat from flooding, referring particularly to the crisis that hit England this summer.

Coun Kirk will argue large profit-making firms such as Yorkshire Water should have a statutory duty placed on them, to keep their systems up to standard.

She said: "Some of the drainage systems in our area are disgracefully out of date and the Government needs to take action for the people of York."

Coun Kirk said Yorkshire Water's parent company Kelda made a profit of £240 million in the last year, but said the rising number of houses relying on the same drains, coupled with increased heavy rain, was placing great strain on the system. She said that was exacerbated by increased water usage in modern houses, with multiple toilets, showers and baths adding to the amount used.

She said: "Recent flooding in recent years, we were told was potentially a once every hundred years' event. Now, we have statistics nationally saying these events are starting to happen much more frequently.

"After this summer's heavy rain, we were told to expect a lot more of these heavy downpours - not necessarily more rain over a year, but increasingly a lot in concentrated periods of time."

Coun Kirk raised the issue at the Lib Dems' national conference last week and will now table a motion at next Thursday's full meeting of City of York Council.

The motion, which will be seconded by fellow councillor Andrew Waller, calls on the Government to introduce a "statutory duty on the private water companies to review and upgrade drainage in line with the increased needs due to climate change, as well as to maintain drainage systems properly and make pumping stations proof against flooding."

A Yorkshire Water spokeswoman said: "The flooding experienced in the region was caused by significant and unprecedented rainfall and as the Secretary of State at Defra, Hilary Benn stated, no system could have coped with these extreme weather conditions. Yorkshire Water's infrastructure performed well in what were exceptional circumstances however, in parts of the region the company's systems were overwhelmed.

"Like others, we are keen to explore whether we can help to mitigate any future risks by improving our infrastructure, along with the other relevant agencies."

She said the firm would welcome the chance to meet Coun Kirk to discuss the issue further.