A worker has been recruited to help flood-stricken communities limit the devastation caused.

A flood action development worker has been appointed by Bradford Council to work with ten communities across the district to help them to help themselves when floods hit.

The new post is expected to pre-empt one of the recommendations made by an independent inquiry looking into the causes of flooding.

Its findings were expected this week, but will now be published in September.

Bingley Voluntary Action has undertaken the recruitment of the facilitator, which is being funded through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.

The worker will help communities in Keighley, Bingley, Shipley, Nab Wood, Baildon, Utley, Silsden and Ilkley and other areas are still being looked at.

Chief executive officer Margaret Jackman said: "There are quite a lot of statutory agencies that are actively involved in trying to prevent flooding but what we have identified is there is very little co-ordination on the ground as to what happens when it does flood.

"We have identified a need for someone to work with these communities that are at risk of flooding to develop local action plans.

"For example, if we have to evacuate people, where do we evacuate them to? Who are the vulnerable people in the community, such as the elderly and disabled, and how can we get help to them if they are flooded?"

She said the facilitator would work with the community to form groups to look at what was needed in times of flooding.

The post has been funded for two years during which the community groups will be set up and trained, and they will then be self-sufficient.

"A lot of these communities have already flooded once. What we want to do is help them cope with what may come in the future and support them," she said.

She said that the facilitator was likely to start work within the next month.

The move has arisen out of an inquiry commissioned by Bradford Council which has been investigating the causes and nature of flooding in the district, the work of the various agencies responsible for water management and ways of minimising the risk to homes.

Taking evidence from flood victims and views from experts, landowners and agencies involved in water management, the inquiry is expected to make recommendations on long-term solutions to flooding.

The district suffered serious flooding in 2000, when 300 homes in Stockbridge near Keighley alone were flooded. Keighley was again hit by severe floods in 2003.

Since the floods of 2000 there have been an unprecedented 27 flood warnings on the River Aire and River Wharfe.