WORCESTER City Council has angrily hit back at city MP Mike Foster's accusations that they are being "stupid, selfish and short-sighted" over flood defences.

Leader of the Council, Stephen Inman, said the city council had a duty to consider the full impact of all options before committing considerable manpower and already-stretched resources to the scheme.

"Directing blame at the city council and alleging that we are stalling an experimental flood defence programme on purely aesthetic grounds is wholly wrong.

"If any fingers are to be pointed, they should be pointed in the direction of the Government and the Environment Agency who have failed to respond to our calls for some kind of concerted action and have left us no further forward than we were in January 2001."

Despite the council rebutting the MP's comments they still remain the only authority, which has towns along the River Severn, not to accept the offer of £100,000 worth of pallet barriers for Hylton Road.

The city council's Development Services and Review Committee is planning to meet with representatives from the Environment Agency in early to mid September to decide whether or not to accept them.

Last week, Mary Dhonau, chairman of Worcester Action Against Flooding, addressed the committee's meeting and took the opportunity to attack the council for not yet accepting the offer.

The Environment Agency has said it is keen to experiment with flood defences in Worcester.

"The initiative has the support of Defra and is an opportunity to help reduce the risk of flood damage to property, which until now has been reliant on sandbags," said a spokesman.

"The support of the relevant council is key to the success of any of these trials."