IN response to Colin Clarke's letter 'Build a lagoon' (March 1), I say the idea of building a fish refuge should be commended, however, the issue of preserving fish stocks and the flooding of the Derwent are more fundamental.
Between the 1960s and 1980s there was massive work to improve the land drainage in the Vale of Pickering and part of this was to change a beautiful, naturally formed, river into what is basically a fenland drain.
This has meant that water is removed more quickly from the land; pushed into the rivers and downstream causing fish fry populations to be destroyed and it increases flooding in other areas.
It also means that farmers now apply for water extraction rights in times of drought. Nature will always find a way and these changes in the Derwent have passed the flooding problem downstream to places such as Stamford Bridge. The proposed flood defences at places such as Stamford Bridge will push the problem elsewhere.
Clive Appleyard,
Westminster Road, York.
Updated: 09:52 Thursday, March 03, 2005
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