NIGEL BODDY is almost right about floods (HAS, Dec 12).

Holding water back in lakes, ponds and water meadows, or letting it soak away into the ground, is the best protection for urban areas downstream.

But every time someone paves their driveway or builds a new road or a house, more rainwater may run off too fast and end up where it’s not wanted.

I represent Darlington Borough Council on the Northumbria Regional Flood and Coastal Committee and we will spend £107m on flood defences over the next six years.

Surface water floods are a growing challenge.

Downpour is the name of a small project launching in Darlington in the New Year to explore ways of storing rainwater for future use in urban yards and gardens.

Big schemes like dredging, high walls and gates are very expensive and often just move the problem elsewhere. Softer measures, like Darlington’s world-class restoration project on the River Skerne at Rockwell, give lasting pleasure as well as better value.

Paul Harman, Darlington.