COUNCILLORS have hit back at suggestions that they vetoed plans to have an extra warning siren installed in a village hit by floods.

As reported in The Northern Echo on Tuesday, people living in Skinningrove, east Cleveland, say a flood warning siren installed in the village last week is too quiet.

The Environment Agency said it only provided one siren because plans for a second were rejected by Loftus Town Council. But council chairman Gordon Davis, insists that was not the case.

He said: "Loftus Town Council was not consulted by the Environment Agency and the matter of siting of sirens has never been discussed by the council.

"The agency's comment gives the impression that we are not interested in the safety of Skinningrove residents. This is far from the truth."

In fact, workmen installing a siren at the bottom of the village - where devastating flooding occurred twice in 2000 - had been asked to stop work by town councillor Barry Hunt.

He said: "They were clamping this great big four-inch metal thing to the wall and we asked them to stop, as the wires were supposed to be hidden. We asked them not to do it until we got in touch with the agency.

"No one ever stopped them putting any sirens anywhere."

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: "The gentleman who approached us with an objection to the siren was an unnamed town councillor for Loftus.

"We have since found out he was acting as an individual and not on behalf of the town council."

The agency was not happy with the noise level of the new siren and was considering installing a louder one, the spokesman added.