Malmesbury Town Council will a meeting next week to discuss the flooding in the town and what could be done to prevent it.

Mayor Ray Sanderson organised the meeting after five councillors requested it be held to talk about flood plans in the town.

He said: “A flood plan is in place for affected areas and has been for years. It is Environment Agency- based and they run it for residents. The Environ-ment Agency sends the Warden and Freemen, who own the houses, warnings and alerts.

“This isn’t for a Malmesbury Town Council flood plan, but for a community flood plan.”

Coun Simon Killane, chairman of the Malmesbury Neighbour-hood Steering Group, said: “When we see this wonderful community deal with things like this it needs support from the town council.

“I’m talking about everybody needing to know about automated alerts from the Environment Agency. We need to get flyers out about this.

“We can’t stop flooding, but maybe we can stop houses from getting so damaged, and get people better advice – it’s silly things like kids playing in dirty water.”

The meeting will be held in the town hall on Thursday at 7pm.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “Flood plans and community flood plans are designed when we can’t build a defence scheme, and in order to protect people.

“The point of them is so the whole community knows what to do if there is a risk of flooding, so a list of actions, for example flood boards or flood gates, lots of different things.

“I would say if Malmesbury hasn’t got one now, then it’s a very good idea to get one.”

Coun Killane said: “It’s a special meeting for all of the town council and a chance for all the people flooded to say what they needed and lessons so next time we can deal with it all.”

To receive flood alerts, call the Environment Agency’s Floodline on 0845 988 1188.