THE Environment Agency has been criticised in the House of Commons after the MP for the Cotswolds said it has been neglecting flood issues in the district.

Speaking in Parliament last week, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown gave the organisation a verbal lashing and insisted that it had not acted on its promise of creating a catchment area plan for the River Churn.

He said: “For at last three years, it has been talking about coming up with a plan but I have still yet to see that plan.

“The answer is not just dredging but considering the whole catchment area using all the keys in our locker to deal with the problem. That is what I have been asking the Environment Agency to do in my constituency.”

The Environment Agency has come under increased scrutiny from people in the Cotswolds in light of recent floods, with many believing that problems could be avoided if money was invested into dredging the River Churn.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said that a flood risk strategy for the river was published in 2009 and since then around £2million has been spent on flood prevention schemes.

The organisation also said that the long term option of building a flood storage area upstream of Cirencester is not economically viable as it would not attract government funding.

A spokesman said: “We will continue to offer advice into a third party-led scheme to deliver this part of the strategy, but to date no-one has been forthcoming to lead this work.”