It will last for 12 weeks and will include parish councils, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council and local residents.

The plan, which originally proposed increasing flooding in the Snaith area in times of high water hell to spare areas of East Riding, caused an outcry locally when it was originally released in 2008.

Prospective Goole and Brigg MP Andrew Percy teamed up with local councillors Caroline Fox and Gordon Megson to launch a petition against the proposals, which was signed by hundreds of residents.

The Environment Agency eventually agreed to rethink and, as a result, proposed a new consultation, which started on Friday.

Due to the large number of river catchments meeting in the Snaith and Goole area, the Aire scheme will be considered alongside the flood catchment plans being proposed for the Ouse, Trent, Don, Calder and Derwent.

But Mr Percy added: "Personally, I want to know more from the EA about what this will actually mean, as I won't accept any proposals that will put homes at risk of more flooding."

Rather than simply apply one policy to the area, the EA has divided it up into smaller 'clusters'. Cluster six roughly covers Airmyn, Rawcliffe, Rawcliffe Bridge, Hook and Goole, cluster five Snaith, Gowdall and the Cowicks with cluster four applying to Marshlands and Pollington.

The EA proposes to continue with existing levels of flood protection for cluster four, while further action will be taken in cluster six to sustain the current level of protection into the future, as the risk of flooding increases.

It wants to adopt a policy that will 'take action with others to store water or manage run-off in locations that provide overall flood risk reduction or environmental benefits' in cluster five.

Snaith, Airmyn and Rawcliffe ward councillor Caroline Fox added: "The EA's original proposals were absolutely unacceptable.

"ERYC was particularly scathing about the proposals, pointing out any increase in flooding in the Snaith and Rawcliffe area could leave residents cut off. We shall study the new plan closely!"

The document is available in libraries at Goole and Snaith. There's also a consultation event organised for March 8 at Goole Leisure Centre, with EA representatives present between 2 and 7pm to answer residents' queries and to record their views.

Plans are also available at the www.environment-agency.gov.uk/cfmp website.