I agree with all that Reid Tutty said in his letter about the maintenance of our waterways, Dredge rivers to cut floods (Oxford Mail, April 4).

During the Second World War, Italian prisoners of war were given tasks like these to do and I remember being told that they dredged the River Cherwell near Kidlington.

I know they did lots of things, as my uncle Fred, who was rejected for military service because of a leg injury sustained between the wars but did have a PSV licence, used to ferry them to and fro.

He always maintained that they were a nice, happy, hard-working bunch of blokes and many of them settled here after the war, never to return home.

It has been said by some that young offenders or such like should be put to these tasks, but alas, the PC brigade, health and safety and all that cobblers would put the mockers on such things happening.

Tony Blair said his greatest moment was when he signed up to the Human Rights Act.

What about the rights of those poor souls who were flooded last July and are still not back in their homes?

If there is a repeat of last summer's weather, they could be devastated again, as it appears not enough is being done to combat the problem.

Makeshift defences, which were successful in places like Botley earlier this year, are one thing, but the larger problem needs to be addressed, and pretty quickly.

All this proposed building on flood plains and thoughts of filling in lakes with power station waste don't make sense and will only add to the problem.

Michael Clarke,Lewell Avenue,Old Marston,Oxford