THE rapid rate of development that has marked Swindon's recent history has added to the town's flooding woes, according to an Environment Agency expert.

Swindon is regarded as a high priority by the agency, which does not rule out the possibility that more people could be flooded.

But better co-operation between agencies and the lessons learnt over the last year mean that Swindon is better equipped to cope with the fall-out of a repeat of last year's chaos.

Marcus van Someren is the Environment Agency's flood risk management team leader for the Swindon area.

He said: "There's no doubt that Swindon was hit badly by the floods last year, with more than 200 properties flooded.

"It's an urban area so the problems were more severe than in a rural area.

"Swindon has seen a lot of development and that development has put a lot of pressure on the water courses.

"We have taken a very serious view of Swindon because we know that the situation is quite bad - but it is improvable."

Mr van Someren said he believed that the partnership between the three bodies responsible for flooding problems in Swindon - the EA, the council and Thames Water - was stronger than ever before.

He said: "It's important to realise that any flooding issue in Swindon has three sides to it, and it's important for us to work closely with Thames Water and the council.

"An example of that would be the Thames Water project in Haydon Wick.

"Whereas before they would have just come to us for our consent for their plans, this time we were very much involved in discussing it with them.

"I'm also in weekly, and sometimes daily, contact with Swindon Council.

"I think they have taken a very serious approach to flooding over the past year.

"They don't have all the resources they would like but they have acted quickly and efficiently."

Mr van Someren said the EA has 30 actions in place for alleviating flooding problems in Swindon - some of which have been completed and some of which are under way.

But he warned that it will never be possible to rule out future flooding for those hardest hit.

He said: "There will always be some flood risk because obviously we can't control the weather.

"If an event like last July's were to happen again there would be flooding. But that was an extreme event and certainly not something we would expect frequently.

"We can never claim to eliminate flooding risk but we are certainly better prepared than before."