Paul Thorogood (Letters, January 14) raises some interesting points about the proposed flood alleviation scheme, west of Coggeshall, but his inflammatory words, such as giant; vast; disastrous etc (as well as his figures), exaggerate the facts.

Critically, the 2001 flood event exceeded a one in one hundred year event, not one in a thousand, as claimed. As a commissioner to the Essex Climate Action Commission, and living in Feering, I remember well the 2001 flooding of businesses and properties in the three villages of Coggeshall, Feering and Kelvedon. It resulted in a detailed study by the Environment Agency (EA), completed in 2013 and, after further investigation, eight possible options to mitigate against the effects of climate change (which one might expect this Green councillor to support) were consulted on in 2015.

The preferred public option found there was not enough storage within the flood-plain area, but also was too costly to provide via a Flood Defence Grant. This led the EA to approach Blackwater Aggregates (they didn’t “step forward”) to consider working in partnership. Other implied links are irrelevant.

The resultant proposal shows a 300m grass covered, dam across the Blackwater, near the football ground, as well as an off-line flood storage area next to the river, providing protection to all three villages for 1:100 year events.

This would include a path over the river, linking the existing footpath at the football ground to the route of the Essex Way.

The important part of the dam is a spill-way to limit the release of excess flood water to a manageable maximum flow, through the narrow, and previously affected, parts of the village around the gravel, before continuing down towards Feering.

This would indeed alter the “Roman Landscape”, much as we have been doing for 1,600 years since they left - it’s called progress.

Should we ask the A12 to be re-routed through Kelvedon & Feering, the district ward Mr Thorogood represents, and the A120 through Coggeshall, where he lives, to reset the Roman status quo?

Councillor Robert Mitchell, Conservative Councillor and Candidate for Braintree Eastern Division