Marlow residents were this week urged to take action to protect their homes as a fresh flooding crisis continues to cripple parts of the UK.

The town is trying to prevent a repeat of the disastrous scenes experienced less than two years ago, with construction plans for Marlow’s £8.5m flood defences not set to begin until next year.

In February 2014, around 50 people were forced out of their homes with the worst of the flooding hitting Pound Lane, Lock Road and Gossmore – but Marlow Town Council claims the town is better prepared than before.

In a week when north west England was decimated by floodwater, the National Flood Advisory Service arrived in town to offer advice to residents.

And the Environment Agency (EA) confirmed it is considering using “temporary defences” in the area during the winter while its long-term project is constructed.

Annie Jones who co-ordinates the town council’s flood plan, said: “It is important that individuals are prepared and that as a town we are prepared.

“We now have the Marlow Community Flood Plan so we are much better prepared and we know how to work more effectively with the other agencies.”

The flood plan – set up after a public meeting in the wake of the 2014 floods – is a response plan offering information and support to residents in the event of future flooding.

The advisory service set up its trailer in Court Garden car park this week – the very spot where emergency services sited their temporary ‘command centre’ during the 2014 crisis - advising residents on the best way to protect their homes.

Marlow flood prevention expert and landscaper Alex Brown said his firm has carried out eight flood protection projects on Pound Lane alone to deal with the “growing problem”.

And this week, Bucks Fire and Rescue insisted crews are “just as prepared” for a mass flood relief effort as in 2014, when teams pumped more than a million litres of water per day for just over two weeks.

In the long term the EA is heading up a £8.54 million project – the Marlow Flood Alleviation Scheme – which it says will protect 287 properties and has been designed to raise the standard of protection to a one in 75 years ‘flood event’.

The agency said the next step is to survey Pound Lane and Lower Pound Lane with a view to work beginning in the spring of 2017 on flood walls, pumping stations and containment lakes.

And in the short term, defences could come in the form of a series of small barriers which can be deployed to Marlow should the region experience a sustained period of rain.