SIR — Further to your report last week on flooding in Williton, my husband and I were invited to join last Thursday's walk around the village and the running commentary from the Environment Agency employees shed a lot of light on the problems and some possible solutions to the heavy flooding.

It was easy to see, from a layman's view, how we could minimise the effects of prolonged heavy rainfall and send the water to the sea rather than flooding many properties.

The agency indicated that if all the waterways in and around Williton were cleared, then the effects of continuing rain would definitely be minimised, and I for one would rather be fighting off inches of water than several feet of water through my house.

It is not a solution to just clear our immediate area, and it is not my intention to suggest moving the problem further down the line, but we are not so very far from the sea which provides the logical final destination to take the surplus.

Cllr Elizabeth Peeks made a valid suggestion at last weeks' parish council to provide a map of the area which would pinpoint locations that may cause problems. I wonder if the parish council is brave enough to provide the photographic evidence of problems, locations, and indeed indicate ownership of the land of those owners who should be responsible for keeping their watercourses clear?

I would like to name and shame, in the form of photographs, those whose neglect exacerbated the problems of November 24.

I hope that the parish council can speak at length to the Wyndham Estate and Somerset County Council and also remind everyone whose house is adjacent to the streams of their responsibility to maintain their stretch.

Whether it is ten yards or two miles, the effect of ignoring its upkeep is the same.

Maybe you should include Magna too to put pressure on their tenants to do their part.

We live in a rural community so someone somewhere with traditional skills on ditching and maintenance of river ways could point us in the right direction, and those farmers with expensive efficient equipment could be employed to do a short-term fix. And it wouldn't cost £2 million either.

I am in regular contact with the Environment Agency even now as I still receive regular flood alerts and will be leaving my sandbags in place for the foreseeable future.

I am not altogether distressed by having a house I am unable to live in, as I am very aware that with the continuing rain it could happen all over again.

Will the parish council be ready next time to comfort their parishioners and provide practical help or even long-term solutions?

Christine Human,

High Street,

Williton.