DAMAGE to a York flood bank has sparked concerns that the Rawcliffe area might once again be put at risk of serious flooding.

And at Stamford Bridge, a project to prevent another devastating flood has still not won Government approval - two months before work is due to start.

Environment Agency bosses have used sandbags at Rawcliffe to temporarily repair a bank alongside the Clifton Ings flood storage area after the surface slipped.

The agency says that, because of wet ground, it cannot move in machinery for permanent repairs until at least April.

The slippage has worried residents in the suburb, where more than 100 homes were inundated in the floods of November, 2000.

Joe Pickering, 63, said: "In general the banks have done well, but it's the little things that add concern to the situation - you've only got to get the river in flood.

"I just want to make sure the rest of the bank is OK, it affects a few thousand people."

Coun Irene Waudby said the situation was worrying. "I hope it won't be too long before they get it fixed."

Agency officers today reassured people, saying the bank was being monitored daily, but they believed it would hold if the River Ouse were to flood.

Flood defence engineer Mark Fuller said: "We're not overly concerned about the slippage, it's not structural. The top soil seems to have slid off the clay centre of the back and it looks worse than it is. We've done a survey on it and based upon that information believe that if water were up against it, it would hold."

At Stamford Bridge, the agency wants to start building new defences in May, so that businesses and homes in the centre of the village can be protected by the start of the next winter flooding season.

But work cannot start until the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has given the scheme the go-ahead.

East Yorkshire MP Greg Knight said today he would be pressing for an urgent meeting with Floods Minister Elliot Morley to seek an assurance that there would be no delay in winning DEFRA approval.

Updated: 10:28 Tuesday, March 11, 2003