The proposal is to build a 140 metre long structure which would be up to a metre high.

There would also be a 45 metre reinforced earth embankment, a floodgate and a vehicle ramp.

The application was made by the Environment Agency.

It is hoped the £1,320,000 wall will reduce the risk of flooding from once in ten years to one in 25.

Eighteen homes and 115 offices, shops and public premises were flooded, some to depths of two metres, on October 12, 2000.

Launching the debate on Monday, planning committee chairman Cllr Len Ashby dubbed the proposal 'balderdash'.

Uckfield had suffered severe flooding in 1960, 1976 and during the 1990s and more robust, alternative protection schemes were needed, he said.

He added that the town centre bridge could only take the pressure of 40 cubic metres of water per second. Flood waters were up to 70 metres per second and the flow would be exacerbated by the wall, he claimed.

Cllr Barrie Murray said: 'This is a waste of time.

'When I was mayor I was called out to watch the floodwaters come across Hempstead Meadows.

'Within 20 minutes there was 18 inches of water outside Pellings and in the alleyway next to Somerfield.

'After heavy rain water courses out of the river up by the railway bridge, not Somerfield.

'They used to dredge the river once a year and now it is silted up.'
But Mayor Cllr Louise Eastwood said: 'It's silly to object to this.

'We should be grasping this opportunity - if we turn it down we might not be offered any more flood defences.

'We have waited for this for eight years and the Agency has finally come forward with something.

'We should take a good look before we say no.'

Cllr Michael Harker said the 2000 flood was deeper than any before: 'The others were minimal by comparison'.

After a lengthy debate members voted in favour of the scheme with the proviso the banks west of the bridge were surveyed to ensure increased flow did not wash them away.