Workington Town Council could lead the way in helping two flood-hit communities fight back.

Councillors are set to consider ways to support residents in Hall Park View and Barepot, which could include funding simple but effective flood relief measures.

The council was already working with other bodies including the Environment Agency on a community flood plan when Storm Desmond hit in December, with an exercise just weeks before in November.

The devastation caused to homes by the storm highlighted the need to make changes promptly.

On Tuesday, the council's environment committee will consider a plan to allocate £10,000 to contribute to improving flood resilience in the two areas.

At Barepot, funding could be used to repoint a flood wall behind Glenfield Place, which leaked in December.

For Hall Park View, scope has been identified for further research into river flows to see if some relatively simple measures could be taken to reduce flood risk.

In both areas money could be used to provide sandbag storage.

If the committee is in favour of the proposal, it have to be agreed by full council on April 13.

Chris Bagshaw, town clerk, said: "For the people who live in Hall Park View and Barepot it's a matter of life and death.

"I'm very impressed by the resilience of those communities.

"They constantly remind me that when you have flood incidents it's actual people and actual houses that get flooded and I think all agencies and all people have a duty to do something.

"Sometimes there are things we can't do but if there are things we can do I think it's our duty to look at them.

Mr Bagshaw added that the council could take a leading role in lobbying for improvements from other authorities such as the Environment Agency.

That, he said, could be important in reminding authorities that it is not just areas like Cockermouth and Carlisle, where large numbers of properties were flooded, that need improvements.

He said: "We can hopefully help these residents and make parts of their local area a little more resilient and try to pull whatever strings we can in terms of dealing with bigger agencies and getting what we can for Workington."

Councillor Denise Rollo, chairman of the environment committee, said: "We need to protect the people. It's important for the town council to lead the way and help draw in more money and help. We need to support Workington Flood Action Group.

"We don't want Workington to feel they're being left behind and we'll be there to support them."

In the coming weeks the council is also set to consider providing another £5,000 to the Cumbria Flood Appeal.

It gave £5,000 in December.