MORE money will be needed to fund the flood defence project on the River Derwent at Malton and Norton, the Environment Agency said this week.

The project, of which preliminary site clearance and construction test works are underway, will cost £1.3m more than the original £5m estimated price tag following detailed design work to ensure the effectiveness of the defences due to poor ground conditions.

The agency's flood defence committee will be asked to agree the additional cost and programme of work when it meets in January.

Although this may mean a "slight delay", the project itself will continue to be "fast-tracked" in the light of the floods of 1999 and 2000. The delay should not affect the completion date and the Environment Agency (EA) still plans to achieve working defences in place for the 2002-2003 winter flood season.

The combination of flood walls and earth flood banks were considered by the EA to be the best means of protection, but these will now also require considerable lengths of sheet pile cut-offs to prevent water flowing through the ground and under the defences.

Project manager Tom Fewster said: "Detailed design and further site investigations undertaken in the last three months showed poor ground conditions, which mean we will have to undertake extra sheet piling work to prevent any water going underground and getting past the defences. This has added to the cost.

"But this doesn't mean that everything has stopped, with work still continuing to prepare the site and planning and design work continuing to ensure the smooth running of the contract when the main works commence on site. We hope to start building work early in the new year. Our first priority is to provide protection against flooding as soon as we can and then we will finish off the landscaping and environmental improvements."

The flood defence scheme has already received planning approval from Ryedale District Council. The Environment Agency in October sent its plans to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) for approval and for funding to ensure the project is on track so the two towns are protected from potential flooding before winter 2002-2003.

The agency's area manager, Craig McGarvey, said: "There has been a lot of hard work by agency staff and our partners, including DEFRA, the Ryedale District Council, English Nature and English Heritage. All of the organisations have compressed over two years work into a period of months."

Flood victim Howard Keal, who chairs the Derwent Action Group which is campaigning for flood defences for Malton, Old Malton and Norton, said there was now a "race against time" for the defences to be completed before next winter's flooding season.

He said final approval was still needed by Government minister Elliot Morley before the project could start. And it was essential it did not get buried in a pile of paperwork.

"The present we all want unwrapped is for approval to be given by Christmas," he said.

Updated: 11:09 Thursday, December 06, 2001