THE recent flooding of the areas around the Wear in Durham, including the building site of the new County Hall (HAS, Feb 17), illustrates how short sighted and foolish the county council was in voting to move County Hall from an elevated, dry site to a flood plain location which is prone to flooding.

New developments on such plains fly in the face of common sense and should, if at all possible, be avoided, particularly when somewhere around a hundred trees were felled, one of nature’s own protections of flood plains, to clear the site.

If the council then thinks that it can spend ratepayers’ money on flood defences for the building perhaps those who voted for the site relocation should start by digging into their own pockets rather than those of the county’s residents whose views and numerous sensible objections they ignored.

Ian Thompson, Spennymoor.

I, AND many others, will totally agree with James Cowan’s climate change letter (HAS, Feb 17).

Has Durham County Council got some inside information that these storms will cease and the new headquarters be a success or is it planning to give employees a boat and move the car park to Shincliffe?

Perhaps when Storm Simon (Henig) arrives they may see the error of their ways.

Is it too late to change minds or is embarrassment a burden too heavy to carry on?

It’s no good calling upon Mr Hindsight. What are our elected councillors doing now?

Terry Knox, Coxhoe.

JAMES COWAN’S photo of the flooded building site at The Sands in Durham (HAS, Feb 17) says it all about this monument to the egos of Durham county councillors. At a time when all other cities are trying to restrict the number of vehicles entering, when are they going to admit that this is the wrong building in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Dave Stevens, Byers Green.