I get rather tired of reading George Monbiot's opinions advocating the rewilding of the fells as the solution to flood prevention.

That vegetation stabilises the soil and trees take up some of the rainfall is quite true for those areas where there is soil to stabilise. To imply that rewilding, bringing about the destruction of centuries-old upland farming practices, is the solution to current flooding problems is unrealistic.

On Saturday, December 5, here in Staveley, the rainfall was 101.2mm, following 57.5mm the previous day, which is over six inches in about 36 hours.

In the past 40 years the rainfall has exceeded 70mm on only four previous occasions, the highest being 79.7mm. So our 101.2mm reading was 27 per cent higher than the previous highest of the past 40 years or more. Other areas had several times that amount.

To suggest that rewilding would have prevented much of the resultant damage is ludicrous. The depth of soil over much of the upland areas is at best only about three or four times as deep as the rain that fell on it that weekend.

It is fortunate that it ran off otherwise we would have had widespread landslides.

Alan Lord

Staveley