With several hundred miles of channels, dykesides and ditches to clear of vegetation and undergrowth before the weather turns again, the flail mowers and excavators are out in force.

It is a massive operation but vital if this corner of Norfolk is to be safe from flooding.

I met Phil Camamile who heads up the drainage operation.

While most companies and organisations have something tangible to show that they are doing a good job, drainage boards rely on nothing happening to show they have got it right, especially in low-lying swathes of Norfolk.

They proved the point earlier this year when we stayed high and dry while other parts of the country were wallowing in the misery and heartache of floods.

It was absolute proof of the efficiency and effectiveness of the pioneering Water Management Alliance which protects thousands of acres of farmland and industrial developments and countless houses.

The fact that most of the land round here is below sea level and that, whether it is due to climate change or whatever the reason, the country as a whole has been experiencing above average levels of rainfall makes the role of the Alliance and its drainage boards even more crucial.

Phil Camamile heads up the Alliance which is the largest of its kind in the UK and covers more than 300,000 acres from Lincolnshire across West Norfolk, down to Thetford and across to the Broads and Great Yarmouth.

Around 80,000 of them are in the immediate Lynn area.

He has an annual budget of £6 million and a 20-year programme in place but forecasts that more money will be needed soon; and that will almost certainly mean additional demands on home and landowners.

"Some major schemes will have to be carried out just to maintain the status quo.

"Ageing pumping stations and storage areas need replacing and improving and we have pumps that date back to the '50s and '60s and are coming to the end of their lives," he said.

GAYWOOD

But there is some good news including confirmation of European funding which means the Lynn Consortium of Drainage Boards can at last press on and create a 60-acre flood relief plain in the Gaywood area, between the Reffley estate and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

It will cost around £500,000 but it will protect the south side of Lynn from flooding and create a wetland which will ultimately become a nature and recreational area.

Conservation issues call for a sensitive approach.

The Alliance's catchment area contains Sites of Special Scientific Interest and various valuable wildlife habitats and environmentally sensitive locations.

Planting is now a routine part of the boards' operations and even the clearance work which is carried out in the spring takes into account the need to protect flora and fauna.

But the bottom line as far as the Alliance is concerned is land drainage.