Options on how to help stop villages from severely flooding range from a new drainage system costing £28million to spending £1.7million on planting extra trees.

Different proposals by the Environment Agency on how to introduce a flood risk scheme covering Coggeshall, Feering and Kelvedon were revealed to residents at two consultation events last week.

The options were suggested after the area was severely flooded in 2001, 2009 and again last year.

In February 2014, the agency issued a flood warning for the villages after the River Blackwater burst its banks.

Residents in Coggeshall were advised to evacuate their homes as water seeped inside some houses in East Street.

Suggestions also include widening the River Blackwater to increase capacity, build a flood storage resevoir or flood walls.

See the Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.