LIBERAL Democrats have stepped up calls for a National Flood Task Force to protect cities such as Worcester from the threat of flooding.

Heavy rainfall led to flood warnings being put in place across the country last week - at the height of summer.

Now the Lib Dems are insisting a single body must be established to tackle the problems of flood defence and management.

Environment spokesman Andrew George said it was essential to end the chaos over which organisation is in charge and prevent "even more devastating damage" to the county.

The task force would be asked to create an "integrated flood management plan".

This would include planning measures to control building on flood plains and improve drainage in urban and rural areas.

It would also be charged with setting up a national insurance scheme.

The party first called for the task force at last year's party conference - but one has yet to be set up by the Government.

The Tories also called for the Government to take a greater role in flood prevention to prevent a repeat of the devastation in Autumn, 2000, when homes and businesses in Worcester and Upton-upon-Severn were deluged with water.

Shadow Environment Secretary David Liddington said: "Their tendency is to wait for a flood and, when it happens, rush around fetching sandbags and then argue about who pays for them.

"Strategic management is needed before taxpayers' homes are ruined."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said Chancellor Gordon Brown had just allocated an extra £150m to be spend on flood defence work over the next three years.

A spokesman said it was carrying out a review of how flood defence schemes were funded and monitored and expected to publish the results this autumn.

The final report is expected to recommend transferring responsibility for more smaller rivers and streams away from councils to the Environment Agency and imposing a one-off levy on developers wanting to build on flood plain areas.