IT SEEMS illogical and unnecessarily cruel to more than 150 householders that a flood alleviation scheme that appeared to be signed and sealed has had its delivery put in doubt more than five years after its need was spectacularly demonstrated.

When houses around the Silverdale Drive and Lowther Park areas of east Kendal were devastated by floods back in the early days of 1999 it seemed that serious consideration would need to be given to avoiding it ever happening again.

Not only was there damage to property and disrupted lives at the time, but ever since there must also have been a severely detrimental effect on the quality of life of those who fear a repeat every time it rains.

South Lakeland District Council appeared to be largely sympathetic and went to great efforts to lay the grounds for the scheme to go ahead.

The greatest obstacle was acquiring the land to accommodate a flood reservoir to stop the water from Stock Beck cascading into people's homes.

This was finally achieved, and the not inconsiderable cost of half a million pounds has already been spent on the scheme. The rest of the funding had also been put at the front of the queue for the council's capital budget, and the announcement only a couple of weeks ago that the Government was willing to chip in with £3 million support through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would certainly seem to have been the clincher.

But apparently that is not the case. The way the Government cash was split has led to fears that the burden on the council capital programme would be too great and some councillors might vote against the scheme when it comes up for final approval over the next two months.

Such doubts should be dispelled as soon as possible.

Although the houses affected are private, the council has a moral obligation to see this project through.

The houses were given planning permission, subjected to surveys and quality inspections and had services laid on, all under the auspices of the authority.

If inadequate barriers to flooding were built into the scheme then it should have been spotted at the time.

Expectations of a solution have been raised and it is too late now for those to be disappointed. Further delay would only prolong the agony of dozens of families and can have no justification.

The council should do its duty and at least make a start on the scheme before the sixth anniversary of the floods next January. That would indeed make for a happy new year.

Backing bail, not jail WHETHER local businessman Paul Cleasby innocently bought a rock for his garden from a market while on holiday or got caught smuggling a valuable stone in his suitcase has yet to be tested by the courts in Turkey.

Even if he is found guilty of the more serious offence, it is surely not the type of crime to deserve a custodial sentence, which makes it even more outrageous that he should have spent many weeks in the appalling conditions of a Turkish jail thousand of miles from his anguished family and friends while awaiting trial.

That is recognised by readers of this newspaper in their hundreds and Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins is to be thanked for taking up their manifest feelings of injustice with the Turkish embassy in London.

If the Turks are not persuaded by the argument that this case can do no good to their stated aspiration of joining the European Union, they must surely pay attention to the potential damage being done to their tourism trade by the attendant publicity.