workers have been laid off at flood-devastated Yorkshire Dales Ice Cream, in Cononley.

More than half the workforce, around 60, was called in to the factory on Friday and told the news, days after the River Aire broke its banks and flooded the premises to depths of up to six feet as flood relief measures were overwhelmed.

Company director Tim Wilson blames the Environment Agency for not getting its act together as his factory flooded for the second time in months.

"There were no floods until the flood relief scheme was built as part of the Kildwick-Crossflatts relief road through the Aire Valley," he says.

"At the moment we just don't know what the future holds for us. We may not have a future unless the Environment Agency can guarantee our safety."

As part of the road scheme, natural wash lands were lost, so a compensation area was built near the ice cream factory, where floodwater is held back by an earth wall.

But last week's torrential rain overwhelmed the flood defences and flooded the factory for the seventh time in the last nine years.

Mr Wilson says: "When the Kildwick-Crossflatts relief road was built, a reservoir was provided to hold the flood water. But I think they miscalculated the size, and every time it floods the water comes over the top of the wall.

These premises never flooded until the road was built.

"The Environment Agency is aware that the scheme doesn't work, but has done absolutely nothing. It has not even repaired the dam wall, which has been eroded by constant over-topping so that now even more water cascades over the wall."

Last week's flooding ruined the entire contents of the firm's cold store and stopped production, throwing existing contracts, like the recent one signed with Virgin Airlines, into jeopardy.

"We don't know when we will be up and running again," says Mr Wilson. "The effects of this flood -- the worst ever -- have been catastrophic. The damage is likely to run into millions."

The Environment Agency says the wash lands scheme is designed to store water overflowing from the river, but because the area was already full the water went over the top.

A spokesman said there were no plans to re-design the scheme, but promised a full investigation for the whole of Yorkshire in the wake of the current flooding.