CALDICOT Castle was surrounded by an impromptu lake for the second time in a matter of weeks as this picture shows.

It is incidents such as this that Monmouthshire Council is hoping to tackle with its new flood risk management strategy.

The picture of canoeists paddling through Caldicot Country Park was taken by Mr Christopher Fielding on Christmas Day.

The strategy will be a key step to ensuring that for the first time the risk of flooding is tackled by combining the work of local councils, government bodies and water companies with that of communities and individual households.

It considers how a range of activities can help manage flood risk including better planning so that new developments decrease rather than increase risk and recognising where flooding is most likely to strike.

The county council is responsible for flood prevention from surface water run-off and ground water and from other ordinary watercourses.

Flooding from other sources such as sewers, reservoirs and the sea are dealt with by other bodies.

County Councillor Bob Greenland, Cabinet Member for Modernisation, Enterprise and Communications said: "The Flood Risk Management Strategy is the council's statement of intent about what needs to be done to tackle flooding in Monmouthshire.

"We hope it will help Monmouthshire residents to become better informed of everyone's responsibilities, how to find out more about their flood risk and what we can do to help residents to become safer."

"We recognise that in the past the different organisations involved in risk management have not always worked together effectively enough in tackling the difficult problems that flood risk often creates.

"It is vital that organisations work better not just with each other but crucially with the public.

"This is why the strategy details the roles and responsibilities of all major stakeholders, including households and community groups, so that there is better clarity and understanding about when different stakeholders should be involved."

Views on the strategy can be made by members of the public until Friday, January 15.

The document can be downloaded from the council's website, www. monmouthshire.gov.uk/floodprevention and is also available at the council's one-stop shops and libraries in Caldicot and Chepstow.