‘Working with nature’ didn’t save Pickering from the floods - it just didn’t rain much | Jeremy Biggs

We must check the facts before jumping to conclusions about the efficacy of so-called natural flood defence schemes. They are an attractive idea but powerless in the face of extreme weather

The town of Pickering is a notorious flood spot in the north-east of England, on the edge of the North York moors. So when the town escaped flooding this Christmas while York - just 40 miles away - was underwater, it seemed an open and shut case. Surely, it was the recently opened "working with nature" flood defence scheme above Pickering that saved the town? For the many advocates of the benefits of working with nature it seemed a great vindication.

And when the Independent published Geoffrey Lean's convincing article on the "town that escaped the flood", it became an environmental sensation, with everyone from Chris Packham to former Tory environment minister Richard Benyon tweeting the story.