WORK on millions of pounds-worth of flooding defences could start within months.

The blueprints for levees around the Haydon Wick brook have been submitted to the council for planning approval.

In March the draft plans were unveiled and residents were asked for their views. Now the council has the final £2.5m plans in hand.

Most of the cash has been pledged by the Environment Agency but the council is also putting in £450,000, which it has obtained from Section 106 agreements.

If the plans go ahead, it will see walls of up to five feet high built along a 2,600ft-stretch of the brook, running between Elstree Way and Queen Elizabeth Drive.

David Renard (Con, Haydon Wick), said: “We had some bad flooding in Haydon Wick in 2007.

“It came from two sources: The drains, which we got Thames Water to sort out last year, and the other flooding was from the brook.

“We have been lobbying hard for the Environment Agency to make this investment. Assuming it’ll be approved, we’re hoping work will begin later this year; I think we’re looking at July, maybe August.

“The Environment Agency and council wouldn’t be investing this kind of money unless it was going to make a real difference to people’s lives if there was a repeat of the downpour of 2007.

“The EA has a very tight budget and needed to be convinced this particular project was going to make a marked difference.

“That they are willing to make the investment is a demonstration of the fact that it will make a difference.

“It’s adding a huge amount of protection.”

He said the plan was not 100 per cent foolproof, but could deal with anything up to a “once in 100 years” event – the kind of freak flooding that only occurs once in every century.

Alan Potts, 63, of Parsley Close, was flooded out on July 20, 2007 – a date he will never forget.

He said:“It was five months before I could use the lower floor of my house.

“The walls had to be torn down. The floors had to be relaid.

“Everything had to be redecorated.

“Fortunately, I live alone so I could camp upstairs.

“I effectively lived in one room for five months.

“I wouldn’t want it to happen again, put it that way.”

He said there have been five occasions since 2000 when the brook has burst its banks.

“Quite a lot of work has already been done,” he said.

“Anything they can do to help, I’m all in favour. I wish they’d get on with it because I’m concerned the money will run out before work starts because the whole country is broke.

“It’ll be better once it’s done, but I don’t ever expect to see rain like we saw in 2007. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

“You can’t prove a flood defence works until you have another flood.”

Although it is not known when a decision will be made, it is hoped it would come before a planning committee within six to eight weeks – or that council officers may decide to approve it without even sending it before a committee.