A RESIDENT living on a flood plain near the River Severn insists his home is safe after being told there was a risk of flooding.

Mike Harbinson and his wife Janet, received a recorded message telephone call after midnight from the Environment Agency, telling him to move his car to high ground because there was a risk of flooding.

But Mr Harbinson, resident in Undy for more than 24 years, said he had never had problems with flooding.

"We had a call saying 'move your car to high grounds: there is a possibility of flooding in your area'," said Mr Harbinson, a retired Monmouthshire county council director of administrative and legal services, who lives in Whitehall Gardens.

"I wasn't happy. It's a funny time to ring and we're quite some way from the Severn."

Elaine Madley, 74, of The Orchard, who lives with her 100-year-old mother, May Bailey, and daughter Claire, 38, said she was concerned about the value of houses in Undy built on the flood plain.

Mrs Madley, who has lived in the area for 43 years dismissed fears over flooding, saying: "I don't think there is a particular risk. We are a fair way from the sea wall.

"It would have to be some high tide to flood my bungalow." The Environment Agency's South East Wales flood risk manager, Tim England, said sea defences along the Severn were under review, but the current sea wall already offered a high standard of protection.

He said parts of Undy were on the flood plain but there would have to be a major breach of the sea wall for the village to be affected. An Environment Agency Wales spokeswoman said the Harbinsons' home was on the very edge of the flood plain and only in a worst case scenario would be hit.

The spokeswoman said the message service was offered for the benefit of the public and that the Harbinsons had signed up to receive alerts. The agency has amended its records so Mr Harbinson will only receive actual flood warnings or severe flood warnings.