THE Environment Agency has agreed to issue flood warnings for Cod Beck in Thirsk following last year's chaos.

Many people in the town were angry that warnings were not given during the floods in November, which resulted in widespread damage to businesses and homes, mainly in the Millgate and Finkle Street areas.

There was particular concern that elderly residents of sheltered housing, such as Todds Court and Gillings Court, had to be evacuated in the middle of the night by the fire brigade, after their homes flooded without warning.

At a public meeting organised by Thirsk Town Council, Mr Peter Holmes from the Environment Agency said it was responsible for maintaining major water courses, while ordinary ones like Cod Beck were the responsibility of the internal drainage board.

However, he added: "We are currently trying to gather information from Cod Beck on the extent of the recent flood, which is a massive task, but the work is expected to be completed by April.

"We will use that information to update our indicative flood maps, which will allow us to issue flood warnings for Thirsk in the future."

Although this was welcome news, members of the public had other concerns about what could be done to prevent further flooding in the town.

Funding was an issue, and Mr Holmes said money for flood defences came from the regional flood defence committee. The Environment Agency had put together a needs-based budget for the next ten years.

He said: "We want to increase the budget by 63pc and the government has granted this area an extra £4.5m to deal with the floods, but we're still asking local authorities for a 40pc increase on what they gave last year, and that will come from the council tax."

Confusion over which agencies had responsibility for which areas was a major issue.

Mr Mike Roberts, divisional engineer for the county council, admitted there had been a dispute over whose responsibility it was to remove a build-up of sand and silt which was blocking an archway under Millgate Bridge.

One resident said this sand deposit had contributed to the flooding, and Coun Jan Marshall said the town council had told the Cod Beck internal drainage board and North Yorkshire County Council about the problem last August, but nothing had been done.

Mr Roberts said: "My understanding is that both authorities believe the other has responsibility for it.

"My personal view is one of us must be responsible and the point is to get on and get something done about it. I will arrange for the sand and silt to be cleared."

The level of maintenance and dredging carried out on Cod Beck over the last few years was heavily criticised by people who felt this could have helped prevent such widespread flooding.

Mr Eric Bowles, clerk to the Cod Beck internal drainage board, said major maintenance work had been ongoing along the whole stretch of the beck since 1994 and that the last time it was dredged in Thirsk was in 1995 or 96.

He added: "The speed at which the water went down shows that the river was clear; the rain was catastrophic but the water course was clear."

Concerns about the lack of sandbags were also raised and Mr Cyril Dyke, head of corporate services at Hambleton District Council, explained that households were given only four to start with, because the authority needed to limit numbers until it had increased stocks.

He added that they had a stock of 4,000 to start off with, but by the end of the floods had distrubuted 15,000. He said they now kept 15,000 all year round, in stores across the district