A FLOOD expert is demanding a more joined up approach to water management as deluged Dorset deals with record breaking rainfall.

The plea comes with news from the Met Office that Bournemouth's rainfall totals for January have reached their highest for 35 years.

Bob Sargent, the director of water management at Hyder Consulting, says that water companies, local authorities, and the highways agency need to come together to reduce the effects of flooding.

Floods have caused chaos across the county, with 30 millimeters falling in less than 24 hours in North Dorset.

"Drainage arrangements are a mess, with different authorities doing different things," said Mr Sargent.

"The Highways Agency is responsible for drainage from road surfaces, the local authority is responsible for drainage from buildings and water companies are responsible for drainage from sewers," he added.

A massive increase in government targets for house building has made more effective drainage a must, said the water expert.

Figures released this month revealed government plans for more than 48,000 homes in the South East of Dorset.

"We're talking about large scale development of new communities, not urban in-fill. There are opportunities for better drainage systems," said Mr Sargent.

Mr Sargent warned against the dangers of building in areas susceptible to water chaos.

"We shouldn't build on flood plains, and we should make sure that flood risk is taken into account," said Mr Sargent.

The Rivers Stour and Allen were put on flood watch last week as Wimborne braced itself for further heavy rainfall, which failed to arrive.

Mid Dorset MP Annette Brooke has slammed government housing targets for the town's green belt.

"They have ignored really important flood plain issues," said Mrs Brooke.

And the water expert warned against communities causing problems for their neighbours.

"We should be moving away from putting everything down one pipe and causing problems down stream," said Mr Sargent.

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