THE Environment Agency inherited a very good river system, designed to cope with flooding, provided that the maintenance of the Great Ouse and its tributaries was kept in order. In all the years that I worked on maintenance and river control the system ne

THE Environment Agency inherited a very good river system, designed to cope with flooding, provided that the maintenance of the Great Ouse and its tributaries was kept in order.

In all the years that I worked on maintenance and river control the system never let us down.

It appears to me that the agency has a problem with this tried and tested system, as every time we have a day's rain it issues a flood warning that rarely materialises.

We see the water flowing across the recreation ground and Pot Holme, as it has been doing for hundreds of years. In fact, this helps to take the pressure off the flood gates and so diminish the risk of flooding in Godmanchester.

Having said that, why is there any need for a flood barrier to be erected across The Causeway? We all know that the only time The Causeway was flooded was in 1947.

The Environment Agency does not impress me one little bit and, with the policy that it is working on, the river will soon revert to where it was in the 1940s.

We used to bring weed cutters down at least once a month to cut weeds on The Causeway and clear the debris. The agency has never touched it in all the time it has been in charge. All the other authorities looked after it.

Godmanchester councillors appear to be keeping a low profile on this subject. And where are all these properties that are in danger?

What plans are they going to put into action to control traffic when the heavy lorries arrive with the material to fill this barrier? I would imagine that we would be talking about hundreds of tonnes of hardcore.

Would it not be easier to build the existing wall a bit higher and fill in the slipway to the same level?

We have an excellent hospital in Huntingdon, sadly in need of funds to survive. We have a country in financial turmoil, yet this government agency wants to spend £6million on a project that years ago was considered totally unnecessary.

WILLIAM E BROWN

Rectory Gardens

Godmanchester