On October 6, there was a flood meeting held in Shaw School. It was attended by over 200 people from Atworth, Whitley, Shaw and Shurnhold, all concerned or affected by the recent storms.

I went along, fully convinced that it was the council’s fault, and the drains, gulleys etc aren’t cleaned enough. The next day I spoke to a friend of mine in Melksham and mentioned this, he had another side to the story. Maize, and yes there are acres of maize planted in Shaw, and no doubt elsewhere.

The root system to this plant causes the ground to seal over, and no water can sink into it, thus causing all the rainwater to slide off the fields, to where? Several houses on the Shaw guest house/kennels side of the road were flooded.

Google flood/maize and you will see the problem for yourselves. The government may well be paying the farmers to plant this too. We have to look at the big picture.

Oh yes at the meeting nothing was said about maize.....amaizing.

S Moffet, Shaw Hill, Shaw, Trowbridge.