SIR — My wife and I attended the recent Williton flood meeting organised by Williton Parish Council (Free Press February 1).

This type of meeting was long overdue as the flooding in Williton is getting more and more frequent and seemingly worse on each occasion.

It is well known that the main problem areas are in the centre of the village, Bridge Street, High Street and Robert Street due to the Monksilver Stream, Long Street, Highbridge and the A39 due to both the Monksilver Stream and the Doniford Stream meeting, and the Doniford area. 

A list of questions was submitted prior to the meeting and was basically the agenda for the meeting. I am still struggling to see why this decision was made - even though the questions were answered (as best as possible if not entirely), it turned the meeting into a question and answer session rather than a useful discussion on how to move forward. 

One solution put forward was to make good the sluice gates by the Bakelite museum to allow the river to discharge through the field and follow the riverbed behind Mamsey house, Danesfield School and out to Doniford.

To me, this seems impractical as it will not only cause even more of a flooding issue along Doniford but poses a threat of flooding the Butts Close area of Williton, St Peters School, Danesfield School, the hospital and the houses in Shutgate meadow, as well as Mamsey House and the A39 running into Williton.

I see little point of moving the problem to somewhere else in the village.

In my opinion, the answers to the flooding issue are quite simple: 

1) The rivers running through the village need to be kept clear of detritus and other obstacles which block the flow of the water.

This can be achieved easily by the parish council asking for volunteers/a working party once a year, which I believe they are looking into.

2) When the river level is high, the best form of defence is to reduce the amount of water coming through the village with a defence system/barrier upstream. Surely it is better to flood a few fields on the Wyndham Estate than the village?

This option, unfortunately, won't be happening any time soon as we were told that no one has the money to pay for it. What a surprise that was! Perhaps EDF could be approached with a request for help?

The problem now is what happens next time the village is flooded.

In November, the fire service was extremely busy and not available to help when the flood initially hit the village as it was dealing with other incidents.

That is not its fault and its priority has to be incidents that involve a risk to life. As a former firefighter in the village, I understand that.

In November, a lot of community spirit was needed and neighbours were indeed helping each other, and another former firefighter and his son were seen helping the residents of Robert Street in his 4x4 vehicle.

In light of this, can I make a suggestion to the Williton Parish Council? How about you ask for volunteers to set up a Village Emergency Group?

This could be of able-bodied residents who are prepared to help others in a time of need, people who will give up a bit of time when the villagers need help (they could, for example, have spent a couple of hours shovelling snow off the pavements last week).

These volunteers could assist with flooded properties and deliver sandbags to households that cannot obtain them for themselves etc.

Although the long term goal is unaffordable at present, maybe in the short term we could help each other out a little bit more.

Simon Bruford,

Williton.