CONCERNS are growing that parts of a low-lying South Lakeland valley could be swamped if the Environment Agency continues to reduce flood defences in the area.

An action group of 80 Lyth Valley residents is calling for more protection to prevent farmland from being flooded.

Chairman of newly-formed Lyth and Winster Land Drainage Group Jim Bland said farmers and residents from Witherslack, Lyth and Levens got together after the EA repeatedly cut funding to maintain land drainage systems in the valley. The valley is protected by five pumps that were installed in the 1980s to speed up water drainage.

Coun Bland, of Oakridge, Underbarrow, who is Cumbria county councillor for the Lyth Valley area, said: “Farmers are having to do a lot of work themselves to keep water off the fields but they can’t be expected to stop the river’s banks from bursting in the next heavy winter.

“We are worried our organisation might have to find ways to take on the maintenance of the valley’s defences alone.

“It’s a brave move to consider but we can’t stand back and see the fields turn into a swamp.”

Ex-chairman of the regional drainage committee, Trevor Farrer, said the Government needed to invest more in the farming industry.

“We could turn the area into a wetlands but that is something people are strongly against and it’s not going to create food.”

Levens farmer David Martin, 39, of Lords Plain Farm, said the 283 acres of land he used to graze cattle needed the drainage system to work.

“This land is very fertile and the drier it is the more productive it is,” he said. “If no one is looking after the pumps water will back up into ditches and fields will be soaked.”

South Lakeland District ward councillor for Levens, Coun Brenda Woof said ignoring drainage issues could have disastrous consequences.

“If pumps are neglected and we see another year of heavy floods the main route from Barrow along the A590 could be compromised and people could be cut off.

“That would be completely unacceptable.”

While overall spending in the South Lakeland area rose from £696,000 to an estimated £969,000, the amount of cash spent in the Lyth Valley has been cut by more than half.

In 2005, the EA spent £267,000 on flood defences in the Lyth Valley, last year this had fallen to £112,000.

The organisation announced it had to prioritise its current river maintenance works to ensure it delivered the most effective flood and coastal risk management with the money it had available.

It intends to hold public meetings to discuss its plans with landowners when its report is published in May.

Debbie Peppert, a technical specialist for the EA, said: “We will soon meet with local landowners to discuss the findings of our study, and how best to take forward our future maintenance works in the area.”