THE Environment Agency has applied to install equipment in Silsden that will improve flood warnings for the area.

The agency, which takes a lead role in issuing warnings to the public, has applied to Keighley Planning Committee to install a telemetry system at Silsden Bridge, on Keighley Road. The bridge crosses the River Aire.

A spokesman for the agency explained: "This piece of equipment monitors water levels around the clock so we can issue early warnings to allow people to take action if flooding is possible.

"This is just one of 30 sites across Yorkshire where the Agency is spending money as part of a £1.5 million investment in flood warning in 2002/2003."

Silsden was just one of the places across the district hit by severe flooding last month, and improvements to the warning system may give residents a chance to protect their homes.

In particular it should help homes and businesses near the flood plains of the River Aire.

The Environment Agency has also warned that the risk of flooding has doubled over recent years and due to changing weather patterns, there are more frequent instances of severe flooding.

District councillor Eric Dawson said that most of the flooding in Silsden stemmed from water from the hillside running into the town centre beck, so the effects of the new system would be limited to homes and businesses along the flood plain of the River Aire.

Two businesses which have been affected by river flooding in the past are Silsden Driving Range and Marsel.

Driving range owner Denise Jowitt said: "We get flooded quite often - a lot more than we used to do when we first opened. We have difficulty getting insurance, no-one wants to know."

Mrs Jowitt said she welcomed the move, but that the authorities should do more. "We pay our rates and they don't take into consideration the business lost through the flooding," she added.

Philip Alton, the managing director of Marsel, said: "We have been flooded twice in the past two years, causing serious disruption to business, and increases to our insurance premiums. However, no-one seems to want to take responsibility, and no one really seems to care."

He added there was a great deal more that could be done, such as clearing debris from the beck.

Silsden mayor Coun Lawrence Walton said the fact the Environment Agency was doing something was a step in the right direction.