RISING river levels sparked Bewdley's first taste of a multi-million pound flood defence scheme - but the water failed to test the UK's only demountable barrier.

Environment Agency staff were called into action with 2003 only nine hours old as heavy rain came down and the River Severn threatened to burst its banks.

However, the level peaked at 3.28 metres above normal on New Year's Day, meaning the Severnside North aluminium barrier beams, slotted between posts which are erected on permanent steel base plates in the quayside, were untroubled. Mark Leadbetter's gallery on Severnside North is one of the properties shielded from the river by the barrier, which has been put up in a live situation for the first time.

The scheme, which features180 metres of demountable barriers and 60 metres of permanent flood walls, is the first phase of a £6.5 million project to protect both Severnside North and South, launched after Bewdley suffered its worst floods in 53 years in November 2000.

Work is set to be finished on Severnside South next year.

Peter Barnett, chairman of both Bewdley Residents' Flood Committee and the town-based National Flood Forum, said most people he had spoken to were confident the barrier would prove effective in an emergency.

"There was no immediate threat of flooding. Halfway through the exercise the Environment Agency staff realised the floods were not going to come so didn't push it quite so hard.

"It seemed to go pretty smoothly and the barrier looked pretty solid. I went out a few times during the day and there were quite a few people having a look at what was going on."

Environment Agency spokesman Oliver Blackburn said the barrier had been put up as a "precaution" with the river high, the ground saturated and heavy rain forecast. It was taken down on Friday afternoon.

The beams are stored in Kidderminster and can be put up within a few hours once flooding has been predicted for Bewdley.

It is the first scheme of its kind in the UK, although such barriers are used widely in Germany.

Severnside North resident Pat Jones said: "All of us were rather hoping the water level would come up to test it - although that's a selfish point of view because Severnside South is not protected yet."

Mark Leadbetter, who runs the Quay Gallery on Severnside North, is pleased the barrier scheme is finally operational.

His business opened on the first day of the floods in 2000 and has been blighted by work on the project since, although business has since picked up and the Environment Agency has agreed to pay him compensation.

He said a "tremendous" number of people had flocked to see the barrier being erected.