Sir – Your front page of February 20 reported that Councillor Tom Wells suggested that construction work on Southern Link Road may have made the flood damage worse at Powick.

Councillor Wells attended the county planning committee meeting in 2018, which gave the go-ahead for the project. All the environmental and social impacts were debated at length.

Expert advisers were present and detailed plans scrutinised. He voted for the project to go ahead, with all its challenges and impacts.

However, the main flooding at Powick came from the river Teme, which very quickly reached one of the highest levels recorded.

The Severn high levels came later. Rainfall was historically heavy but we were kept well informed throughout the surge build up, by the ever-present Dave Throup of The Environment Agency.

In the aftermath of the flood, Powick people worked to help each other. Good neighbourliness was the key to successful support of those in need. It would be better for councillors to calmly and collectively work together to consider the main reasons for this recent flood damage.

We were given clear early warning that storms Ciara and Dennis would bring much rainfall and they did. Our local government should listen to and take action on scientific advice from professionals, not speculate.

We should all ask if there is more severe weather to come and what we can do together to mitigate damage. It’s a global problem.

Gerry Taggart

Powick