CONTROVERSIAL plans for a tax on Worcestershire householders at risk of flooding have been abandoned.

Floods Minister Elliot Morley was due to announce today that levying the tax to pay for new defences was "not a runner".

Mr Morley is instead expected to opt for a one-off charge on developers who want to build on flood plains.

At the moment, the cost of building new defences is met by taxpayers across the country, through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

But Mr Morley has been carrying out a review of the way additional funding - which makes up as much as 35 per cent of the total spent on bolstering defences - is provided.

The most controversial option was the introduction a flood levy on homeowners who live in "at risk" areas.

This would almost certainly apply to Worcester, Upton-upon-Severn, Bewdley and villages hit by repeated flooding over the past three years.

Residents and civic leaders argued it was unfair for people who had already suffered the miseries of flooding, to be hit in the pocket.

Launching the consultation last year, Mr Morley said there were two sides to the argument.

Some people argued that the cost should be spread across a whole region because it lowers the overall charge.

But he said others claimed those people most at risk will receive the main benefit and maybe they ought to pay the bulk of the contribution.

However, Mr Morley has now concluded the flood tax is not the way forward.

A DEFRA insider said: "It was never a front-runner, but it attracted all the attention."

Mr Morley, who was due to confirm the decision in a written Ministerial statement today, was also expected to streamline the way funding for flood defences is allocated.

Regional Flood Defence Committees, which are charged with raising the cash not provided by the Government, look set to be abolished.

They are expected to be replaced by a Regional Customer Body, which would receive money direct from the Government.

This grant would include cash currently paid to local councils through the Standard Spending Assessment in a bid to simplify the system.