ALL the emergency services did a terrific job - that much was agreed by everyone contributing to Worcestershire County Council's flood scrutiny.

Ideas for coping better next time ranged from the practical, such as finding a 21st Century replacement for the humble sandbag, to the frankly ambitious, such as creating controllable weirs or digging a River Severn relief channel.

Top priority in the public perception is the need to dredge rivers. But, as Upton Mayor Ernie Holder commented after Tuesday's meeting: "Everyone has excuses about why you can't do anything."

British Waterways spends £150,000 a year on dredging the River Severn between Stourport and Gloucester to keep it at navigable depth.

"It's only in the last 20 years that it's been dredged. In the past, large commercial craft with a large draught and prop-wash kept the river open to a greater depth by preventing the silt from accumulating," said British Waterways spokeswoman Bridget Kilmartin. "The Environment Agency has looked into the question of dredging and if it was a workable solution they would tell us to do it, but it would have to be a continual operation and it would be detrimental to the river's eco-system."

The National Association of Boat Owners has criticised the current method of dredging the river, which involves raising the silt and injecting it back into the river to be carried downstream. Proper, effective dredging involves the removal of spoil and dumping either at sea or on riverside land, says the NABO, in a submission to the scrutiny panel.

This would provide deeper water for safe navigation in summer and the deeper channel would allow larger volumes of water to flow unimpeded, especially when the river is flooded.

The need for river banks to be maintained and trees to be trimmed back was also raised on Tuesday, with the observation that trees were growing 8ft from the bank in places, creating extra silting and making flood water spill out by displacement.

Scrutiny panel chairman Peter Fallows conceded that dredging was a possible solution to be considered.