ENVIRONMENT bosses are now set to reveal this summer how they intend combating flooding in the York area through the 21st century.

The publication of the draft Ouse Flood Risk Management Strategy will come shortly before the fifth anniversary of the devastating floods of November 2000, in which hundreds of homes and businesses were inundated.

The Environment Agency had originally planned to publish the document this spring, but has put this back by several months.

The strategy will outline what steps should be taken both in the York and Selby area, and also a long way upstream, to prevent a repeat of the 2000 disaster.

The agency hinted in a "Scoping Report" last autumn what solutions might be adopted, and also revealed that a number of steps had been discounted.

The report examined environmental issues raised by a range of possible proposals to tackle flooding.

It ruled out creating artificial channels to divert floodwater, pumping water out of the river and discharging it at a different location, placing a barrier across the river to hold back floodwaters, dredging the river, modifying weirs to speed up water flow and using reservoirs to store water during heavy rainfall.

However, it outlined many more options which should be given further consideration, including modifying bridges to reduce flow constrictions, widening the river channel, changing land use to reduce the amount and rate of water run-off and restoring woodland or forest in floodplains to retain floodwater.

It also suggested that vulnerable properties could be selectively abandoned and demolished, with residents relocated, that individual properties should be flood-proofed and that existing defences should be raised or new ones built.

Since the report was published, the agency has consulted with dozens of organisations, from local authorities and farming organisations to wildlife societies and rowing clubs.

Individual members of the public have also given their views.

It has examined the technical feasibility and economic justification for the various options, prior to choosing preferred options which will form the basis of the new flood risk management strategy.

The agency said there will be further consultation after the draft strategy is published, following which a formal strategy will be published.

What action is eventually taken on the ground - and when - will be decided according to national prioritisation formulae laid down by the Government.

Updated: 09:48 Saturday, April 23, 2005