SIR - Given that climate change is a reality and we must all get used to the prospect of wetter weather (possibly throughout the year), an article appeared in the national media recently which seemed to carry a particular message for those who live in vulnerable locations.

The gist of the article was as follows - the roots and soil of a lawn make excellent sponge for soaking up downpours of rain, and allow it to filter down into the water table for our future consumption. But more gardens, particularly front-gardens, are being paved over not just for decorative purposes, but often for car-parking, leading to fears that torrential rain can rush off the hard surfaces into overloaded drains causing flash flooding.

For example, an estimated one-fifth of London's total land area is made up of private gardens, but the current trend to pave over front gardens had led to a dramatic loss of rain-absorbing surfaces equal in area to Hyde Park! In addition, garden lawns are valuable in the fight against carbon dioxide in climate change.

Wandering around Worcester one could be forgiven for sometimes thinking we're not going to be happy until everything is under concrete - and what will the floods be like then? The river can only take so much.

JOHN SNOW, Worcester.