FLOOD defences are set for a £1.7 million boost in a bid to protect more than 500 York properties through the 21st century.

Embankments defending homes in the Leeman Road area from the River Ouse came perilously close to failure during the 2000 floods.

Now, five years later, the Environment Agency has concluded they should be strengthened and raised as the region faces a growing threat of flooding because of climate change.

Another half a million pounds may be spent strengthening defences at Stillingfleet to protect 250 properties in the village and at Escrick.

But the agency's medium to long-term plan involves two other key measures on the Ouse outside York, aimed at reducing river levels during floods:

Creating managed washlands, into which floodwaters can be harmlessly diverted when York and other communities downstream of the city are at risk. This could reduce levels by 5-15 per cent, reducing the dangers for undefended properties

Encouraging land use changes up in the Dales to reduce the amount of rainfall running rapidly into streams and rivers - for example planting more woodland, and filling in drainage ditches. The agency estimates that such land use changes could reduce river levels by between three and ten per cent

"With the onset of climate change and the increasing extremes of weather this brings, we cannot continue to think about flood defence solely in terms of building walls along riverbanks - this is just not sustainable," said flood risk engineer Mike Dugher.

"What we need to do is consider how we can work with nature rather than battling it head-on, and making better use of nature's own flood defences - washlands - is one sensible and sustainable option."

The proposals, contained in the agency's long-awaited Ouse Flood Risk Management Strategy, come just after the fifth anniversary of the disastrous floods of early November 2000, in which more than 500 homes were deluged in the York and Selby area.

Mr Dugher said the agency believed that because of climate change, the risk of a repeat of the 2000 floods was likely to rise over the coming century.

"In 2000, the flooding was seen as a once in 80 years event," he said. "In 50 years, we will be three to four times more likely to see it."

A public consultation document on the strategy will be published at the end of November, when it will be available from public libraries, and also on a link from the agency's website www.environment-agency.gov.uk. People can comment until February 10, 2006 by writing to: Phil Walker, Project Manager, Environment Agency, Phoenix House, Global Avenue, Leeds, LS11 8PG.

*The area covered by the Ouse strategy runs from Linton Lock in the north to Boothferry Bridge in the south, and also takes in the River Wharfe from the A64 near Tadcaster until it joins the River Ouse.

Updated: 10:56 Wednesday, November 16, 2005