Flooding is an issue

SIR – I am delighted that Charlie Boy is following in his father s [great uncle s – Ed] footsteps and raising issues of local concern. (I still remember C Meynard Senior s wonderful Golden Bollard Award to the residents of Knebworth for inconsiderate pa

SIR - I am delighted that 'Charlie Boy' is following in his father's [great uncle's - Ed] footsteps and raising issues of local concern. (I still remember C Meynard Senior's wonderful Golden Bollard Award to the residents of Knebworth for inconsiderate parking that blocked the traffic!)

However, I was saddened by Charlie Junior's belittling of Malcolm Cowan's picture of floodwater.

Of course the residents of Tewkesbury and Upton-on-Severn have suffered far worse flooding, but that is no reason not to highlight our own problems.

One might just as well argue that, because there are millions of people in Africa without access to a dentist, we should count ourselves lucky and not complain about the shortage of NHS dentists in Britain.

There is also a fundamental difference between flooding in the Severn Valley and flooding in Welwyn Hatfield.

The former is the result of a natural event, a river filling its flood-plain. The latter is a man-made problem, arising from the indifference or incompetence of the highway authorities who can't be bothered to clear the drains, or site them where they are needed.

Simon Archer, Travellers Lane, Hatfield.