THE Government has stumped up an extra £1.5 million towards the cost of new Yorkshire flood defences in the wake of last year's disaster.

But some of the boost to the Environment Agency's coffers is under immediate threat because of the need for urgent repairs to a flood embankment at Goole.

The defences alongside the Dutch River have been hit by landslides, and it could cost up to £3 million to repair them - of which the agency might need to find £500,000.

The net result of the two developments should be a £1 million improvement in agency finances, reducing the size of the increase needed in local authority levies to it next year to fund improved defences.

Officials say the 40 per cent levy increase which was originally needed - equal to an extra £4.99 in council tax for the average householder - should now fall to about 34 per cent. Meanwhile, the agency has acted to reassure Goole residents that the defences are not in immediate danger of collapse, and there is no need to evacuate the town at the next high tide.

The Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee was told yesterday that the banks had been cracking up since July, possibly because they became saturated during last November's floods.

Work will start in the next two or three weeks on repairing the banks, to avert a potential disaster that would pose acute dangers to people, with the town lying some ten to 12 feet below the high tide mark. But officials said people should sleep soundly in their beds because there was no immediate risk.

Committee chairman Roy Ward said there would be "horrific" implications for defences elsewhere if it emerged that saturation last November had been responsible for the landslides.

The committee agreed to meet again in December to discuss what flood defence improvements would be needed across the region in the coming year, prior to setting the levy at a meeting in January.

The committee also heard:

More flood defence improvements were needed than originally thought at Gowdall - badly hit by flooding last November - pushing up the likely expenditure this year from some £600,000 to £900,000.

* Substantial improvements have been completed at Selby and Barlby, at a cost of some £800,000, but a mathematical model of the Ouse from York to Selby had to be completed before any further work could be done.

Updated: 10:53 Friday, October 12, 2001