PARTS of the district badly hit by last year's Boxing Day floods have been identified as priorities for prevention work.

The Environment Agency have drawn-up a list of locations for more work to be done or detailed investigations to be carried out, including Silsden Beck.

Bingley Rural councillor Michael Ellis, the council's representative on the Yorkshire regional flood and coastal committee, said: "We have got to do what we can to make sure a similar situation to last year does not happen again."

Craven was particularly hit by Storm Eva and the River Aire reached a record high, flooding communities in Carleton, Cononley, Kildwick, Cross Hills and Silsden and leaving homes without power.

Even the Leeds-Liverpool canal bursts its bank and the A629 was closed when ten cars got stuck in floodwater, two feet deep in places and Kildwick roundabout was under water.

The EA report states that debris has already been cleared from waterways some of which has been carried out in partnership with the Aire Rivers Trust stewardship project.

Surface water modelling, a computer-based programme predicting where surface water will flow in the event of heavy rainfall, will also take place.

Residents and businesses in affected areas have been handed Flood Resilience and Community Engagement information packs.

The report adds that more than £1.7 million has been approved for work to repair existing flood risk infrastructure in the district.

Phil Younge, the agency's flood recovery manager for Yorkshire, said: "The floods last December have made this a difficult year for many people.

"A lot of hard work has gone into repairing and restoring damage caused by the floods and rebuilding, not just walls and bridges, but relationships, hopes and trust within communities.

"We are working closer than ever with local communities and partner organisations so we can combine our knowledge and resources.

"This work is being used to develop new schemes in some of those places severely flooded on Boxing Day. We have improved the way we respond to incidents with better modelling and updated flood warnings.

"We are all alert to the potential of flooding this winter. I would urge everyone at risk to sign up to our free Floodline Warnings Direct service, prepare a flood plan and get involved with their local flood action group so they can help us shape the future of flood risk management in Yorkshire."

Visit gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency for more details.