Flood help

Do not hold your breath on this one. Saying it and actually dealing out the cash are worlds apart. What Mr Cameron has not said is who will get the cash, in what form and how it will be allocated to those in serious need?

How strange that Mr Cameron only made his pledge when the River Thames burst its banks in the Tory heartland.

But for all the families suffering in the flood-hit areas of Great Britain I expect the Government to leave their financial pain in the hands of insurance companies. There seems to be no suggestion of the Government chipping in to help people rebuild flood-hit homes or businesses to re-stock.

Had this been an overseas country suffering in such a way then the TV would be full of advertisements asking the hardpressed public to donate. I see no such ads now. How strange, even though this is a national emergency.

John Merry, Darlington.

OF course David Cameron can promise money is no object for flood relief.

He just adds it to the National Debt by borrowing more, instead of using what has already been borrowed to fund the disgraceful aid policy plunging us deeper in to the mire.

I am 79 years old and have, until now, always voted Conservative, although at some times with misgivings.

My vote, along with a lot of my generation, is now lost to that party.

My next quest is to determine which one will do me least harm, because none of them will do me any good.

A Telford, Darlington.

I HAVE campaigned to have local becks cleared up, during the past decade and, more recently at Burton Beck, in Spennymoor.

Local councils never have any money in their budget to carry out this important work. But now, the occupant of Number 10 says that money is no problem.

So perhaps Durham County Council could arrange to clean up all our local becks and rebuild collapsed street drains?

I am assuming that central Government is going to allocate funds to Durham County Council, to enable it to carry out this essential work. It has been apparent during the past ten years that flood risks would increase due to climate change.

So our planners need to ensure that new houses and our infrastructure should only be granted planning permission in non-flood risk areas.

Ben Ord, Spennymoor.

IN weak areas of the coastline in the Canary Islands and Spain, large cubes of reinforced concrete help reinforce the sea wall. They are lifted in by crane and break the force of the waves before they reach the weakened areas of the sea wall.

I suppose in the summer there will be a hose pipe ban to the same areas as are now suffering from flooding.

In warmer countries, very large steel tanks are buried and tiled over to become a patio area where all the surface water can run into a collection tank.

The water can be pumped out when needed and can be filtered and pumped into the houses.

I think this system should be compulsory in all new builds in the South of England.

John Truswell, Spennymoor.

MY heart goes out to those poor ordinary people flooded in the Thames Valley and in Somerset.

It is of some amusement to me, however, to see these pious London-centric TV anchors – having to be uprooted from their cosy studios to stand knee deep in the wet stuff and fill the 24- hour news programmes with their sage reports.

I wonder, however, if these hacks would have paid the same attention if the Skerne was lapping half way up Darlington High Row as they do when some millionaire’s mansion by the Thames is in danger of being swamped.

Chris Greenwell, Darlington.