A SOUTH Lakes farmer has criticised Environment Agency drain-clearing restrictions after up to 80 acres of his family's prime grazing land was flooded over the weekend.

Gordon Capstick claimed a ban on silt being dug out of a main drainage ditch across fields at Heversham had left his and four other farms in the area exposed to worsening floods.

"Because of Environment Agency and Natural England rules, we're not allowed to remove silt from the ditch," said Mr Capstick, of Park House Farm. "As a result of the build up, the water is not clearing into the River Bela and on into the Kent Estuary. If we were allowed to clear silt from the ditch, the flooding would not be nearly so bad."

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Mr Capstick, who described the submerged farmland as 'looking more like the Somerset Levels', said flooding had worsened over recent years because of the drain-clearing rules; but this year had been 'particularly bad' after many days of rain.

"We used to grow potatoes and barley on the land but had to stop because of the floods," he said. "After that we could use it just for grazing and silage; but now what was once 12-month grazing has now been reduced to six-month grazing.

"We have to move sheep to higher ground, which has affected the number we can graze. We used to lamb 1,250 - now its down to just over a thousand."

Mr Capstick estimated that between 70 and acres of his family's land had been affected by the latest flooding.