What is needed, he says, is action on the previous study's findings, adding a central requirement is for a floods body independent of the Environment Agency (EA).

'The agency has too many roles and there is too much conflict between habitat protection and development issues,' said Professor Fleming.

This view has been supported at local level where flooded householders have claimed that drainage channels have been blocked by vegetation which has not been cleared as environmental conservation has been given a higher priority.

Professor Fleming's words echo concerns already aired about the EA conflict of interests between its angling and navigation priorities.