BUILDING more houses in North Swindon will lead to more flooding headaches, a councillor has warned.

Swindon Council's planning committee will next week debate approving two schemes for houses in the Redhouse area.

The first plan is for 48 houses, a number of roads, sewers, parking and garages at a site bordering Haydon End Lane and Prospero Way.

The second scheme councillors will consider is for 44 homes on land between Thamesdown Drive and Queen Elizabeth Drive.

But Coun Rex Barnett (Con, Haydon Wick) has objected to both schemes.

In both cases he says there are too many homes being squeezed into too small a space - which could lead to flooding problems.

"There can be few people who would argue that as the density of housing increases up here so does the amount of storm water that rushes through," said Coun Barnett.

"I think the time has come to highlight this problem.

"And I am concerned that the more properties that we put up here, the more water comes rushing through, giving us more water to get rid of.

"How will we do that? We already know the Environment Agency hasn't got the cash it needs to help us as we'd like."

Flooding in Haydon Wick has been a big issue since the area was deluged in the summer.

In recent weeks Coun Barnett has met flooding experts from the Environment Agency to discuss issues thrown up after the summer floods.

In papers drawn up for councillors ahead of the meeting, officers say the Environment Agency has not raised objections to either scheme.

But officers note that the agency says it was disappointed at the drainage system developers plan to use on the first scheme and that the second scheme posed a low environmental risk' of flooding.

Council officers concluded that although they understood flooding fears had been raised after the summer downpours, the fear of flooding could not prevent development in this location'.

Both schemes are recommended for approval at the planning committee meeting on Tuesday.