AFTER storms battered Southampton recently, civic bosses want to come up with a new strategy to tackle flooding.

City council chiefs are drawing up a plan to deal with flooding across Southampton – and they want your views.

They have put forward a number of measures to deal with flooding, and are urging residents to take part in consultation before the final strategy is agreed.

It comes as Hampshire braces itself for two more days of flooding misery after the Met Office put yellow warnings in place for today, tomorrow and Saturday.

Up to 60mm of rain could fall in the next 48 hours on land already saturated by weeks of wet weather, while there have also been warnings of slippery roads as temperatures plunge towards freezing.

Areas such as Priory Road in St Denys and Weston Shore were affected by flooding at the beginning of January.

And the council hopes its new Local Flood Risk Management Strategy can help deal with it in the future.

The strategy includes scope to carry out flood risk management projects to reduce its potential impact.

A project using a £470,000 Government grant has already begun to carry out flood defence works in Priory Road.

That will eventually include a new team of flood wardens and defences, as well as workshops for residents. And there are set to be two new flood management plans at Tanners Brook and Rolles Brook, which will see attenuation ponds added to contain excess water.

Any future housing developments in the city will also have to meet a series of targets to ensure they will not be vulnerable to flooding.

As part of the new strategy the council also wants to improve residents’ knowledge and awareness of flooding, help to establish local community flood groups, and retrofit sustainable drainage systems.

Labour Cabinet member for the environment Warwick Payne said: “Given the recent storms, flooding is very much at the forefront of people’s minds. We’ve been working on our flood strategy for some time and now, more than ever, it’s important that everyone works together to keep Southampton above water.

“The city has escaped the worst of the floods seen nationally so far, and that’s partly down to the work that’s been carried out in previous years to prevent flooding.

“However, we can’t be complacent, and our new strategy sets out what we plan to do to keep Southampton safe from the advancing waters.”

You can look at the draft strategy and leave feedback by visiting southampton.gov.uk/ localfloodrisk or looking at the proposals in the Central Library or the Gateway in Guildhall Square.