I was very interested in Ken Edwards’ letter (Gazette, December 26), who I did know and agreed with all of his comments.

I imported into Malmesbury in 1954 and have properties on three sides of the town, all by the river.

So I have seen every flood since then. The worst flooding in my experience was in a September just before the M4 was finished.

I was going to London early that day but could not get out of Malmesbury until after 11am when the hatches had been opened down by the EKCO factory. Even then we had water come into the well of the car.

At that time where the Co-op supermarket is now was the Railway Hotel that was completely under water. A lot of the houses on the right-hand side at the bottom of the High Street were flooded as well as the unfortunate few that get flooded regularly.

As Ken said, the NRA used to keep the rivers in a tidy state by dredging and removing obstructions, and spraying the reeds.

I went to a meeting a few years ago at the Town Hall about the flood problem and complained that the river needed to be dredged to help the flood problem. I was told that they do not dredge because by dredging the bottom of the river water would leak out.

My answer to that was at that time two areas of the river, one east and one south outside Malmesbury, had been dredged, the river running in front of the properties of two influential people. His answer was, I expect the base of the river was of a different substance.

I am sure we will always have a flooding problem but I am convinced it could be managed more professionally.

Roy Waine, Malmesbury.