THE Environment Agency has said flood defences in Latchford were not damaged by the recent bad weather.

Military personnel from the Army, RAF and Royal Navy have been in Warrington assessing flood defences, as part of a programme to do so across the north west, amid concerns over 'significant pressure' caused by floods and storms.

The EA said: “We are inspecting hundreds of thousands of flood defences across England after the wettest winter on record, which also saw our coastlines battered by major storms.

“We welcome the Government’s offer of military assistance as it provides an excellent opportunity to check all of the region’s flood defences extremely quickly.

“Warrington’s new flood defence scheme is one of over 30,000 assets that are being inspected across the north west.

“The exercise will greatly benefit local communities as it will help us get a better picture of existing flood protection and help us manage local flood risk in the future.

“The new flood walls and embankments in Latchford prevented flooding to hundreds of homes and businesses during the recent tidal surge, and were not damaged by the incident.”

The move to use military staff to check flood defences has been criticised by residents as a waste of resources.