DREDGING the Rivers Tone and Parrett is vital to restoring trust in the Government, says the chairman of Somerset Water Management Partnership.

Partnership chairman Anthony Gibson OBE has written to floods minister Dan Rogerson MP saying dredging is “the one thing that must be done to restore the trust of the Levels community that the Government and its agencies really do care”.

Mr Gibson suggested measures to reduce speed and volume of water run-off, helping communities and making better use of the gravity flood-plain.

He added: “However, the key to making progress across the whole range of flood risk reduction measures is the proposed dredging of the rivers Parrett and Tone, as evaluated by the Environment Agency.

“By increasing the capacity of the rivers, its practical effect will be to make uncontrolled flooding less likely, its duration shorter and its impacts less severe.”