The wettest autumn on record has caused misery and heartbreak for thousands of homeowners and businesspeople whose premises have been flooded.

There's a pressing need for new flood defence schemes to protect the two county towns of Lewes and Chichester, which are among those most at risk of future flooding.

But councillors are not prepared to pay the full 15 per cent increase on the flood defence budget because they say their authorities cannot afford it. Instead, they will pay ten per cent.

The extra amount of money involved is £500,000. That is not a large sum split between several councils, each of which controls multi-million pound budgets.

But the effect will be that flood defence schemes for these two towns will face cutbacks and won't be of the standard the Environment Agency thinks is necessary.

The Government should also be helping towards the cost of this work. After all, both Tony Blair and Mo Mowlam have seen the problems in Sussex at first hand.

Protecting homes and businesses from flooding must be one of the top priorities, both locally and nationally.

The signs are that the wild weather of this autumn will occur more frequently in future.

If there are further floods in Lewes and Chichester because not enough money has been spent on relief projects, people there will know who to blame.