WORK on a £2 million flood prevention scheme for Bewdley is set to start within four months. Tim Ive of the Enviornment Agency demonstrates the new flood barrier system.

The Environment Agency, which has been given emergency money by the Government to spend on flood alleviation, aims to avoid a repeat of last year's flooding misery by erecting controversial removable steel barriers.

It is to apply for planning permission to begin work on Severnside North in September.

The agency presented details of the scheme, the first of its kind in the country, to about 100 people at a public meeting at the town's Baptist Church.

The scheme was enthusiastically received by scores of folk affected by last year's chaos.

But there are fears disruption caused by the first phase of the project, which involves installing the foundations for a demountable steel barrier along a stretch of the River Severn, could upset other townsfolk.

Project engineer Kevin Boulton said: "There will be noise, there will be access restrictions. It is a project approaching £2 million and we can't do it without localised disruption. We can minimise it but can't eliminate it."

The project, also planned for Shrewsbury, involves installing a barrier, up to 2.7 metres high, which can be erected within a few hours in the event of flooding by placing the required number of steel planks between upright supports.

All permanent works will be sited below ground level, and the components would be stored at the agency's depot at Hoo Farm, Kidderminster, if somewhere closer to Bewdley could not be found.

Mr Boulton said this would not be a problem as warning systems in Bewdley were very effective. Floods could be predicted up to two days in advance.

He said other projects had been studied, including dredging, which would harm the environment of the river and cost £45 million, and creating a floodwater bypass, which would cost £470 million.

A system developed by German engineering firm IBS is "not necessarily" the one that would be used although it is favoured.

"For the first time we use the system in this country we want something which is tried and tested and will work," Mr Boulton said.

Phase two of the scheme - installing a barrier along Severnside South - should commence in September 2002.

It was widely welcomed at the meeting, although Wyre Forest MP David Lock said he had encountered divided opinion in the town over whether the barrier's benefits would outweigh the months of disruption.