RESIDENTS of Bournemouth are so used to the Bourne stream overflowing in the Central Gardens every time we have significant rain (Letters, Thursday’s Echo) that I’m wondering if this is really newsworthy? Everyone just accepts it as the norm.

Natural rivers and streams have sloping banks which allow for changes in water levels and as a result they seldom overflow.

However, the Bourne stream has been made to fit into a "straitjacket" with its vertical sides, looking for all the world like some sort of canal.

Canals, on the other hand, are carefully controlled to maintain constant water levels.

If the council were to alter the banks of the Bourne to perhaps an angle of 60 degrees it would allow for a much greater volume of water to flow through the Gardens without necessarily overflowing on so many occasions. It would also have the advantage of looking less like a man-made canal and more like a natural stream.

Recent weather patterns have changed dramatically giving us so much rain that it won’t be long before Central Gardens is renamed "Central Water Gardens"!

Daniel Campbell