HIGHER water levels at Ruislip Lido do not put homes at risk, according to the leader of Hillingdon Council.
The average water level at the lido was deliberately raised earlier this year for the first time in 18 years but Councillor Ray Puddifoot said the move was safe.
Speaking to the Gazette, he said any desire to reintroduce boating and swimming at the lido had 'nothing to do' with the decision to raise the water levels.
"Originally it was kept at the zero mark but some time back it was decided to keep it below the datum 'zero' level.
"Part of what we are doing with the environmental study is checking the validity of that decision, which was made after some flooding.
"We have had requests since then to keep the level steady to help the habitat for frogs.
"But you can't keep it steady if you have to keep it at 1.5 metres below the spillway so we decided to take it to a higher level."
The council has hired engineering firm Halcrow to under-take an environmental study at the lido, the biggest such work for decades.
Its outcome, expected to be published within the next month, will determine whether boating and swimming can be safely reintroduced. The activities were stopped in 1992 after the council's own study indicated that the datum level put homes at risk.
In 1977 and 1988, many of the new properties built close to Cannon Brook, into which the lido's sluice and spillways divert the reservoir's water, were flooded.
Mr Puddifoot continued: "The previous '1992' decision was not based on an expert's opinion. There is no more logic to a 1.5m level than a 0.6m level.
"But we have stalled at 0.6m for the moment until we get a proper expert opinion. There are very few flooding experts in the country and it is extremely complicated how they work things out."You would have to get a Noah's Ark event for the water to come over at the moment."
Mr Puddifoot vowed not to put residents at risk and said the aim of any new scheme was to give a 1-in-10,000-year protection against flooding, up from the existing 1-in-100-year risk.
Carolyn Towner, chairwoman of Ruislip Lido Residents' Group, said: "We are hugely concerned about this. The whole thing is scary because no one seems to know what the risks are."The flood plain isn't something they want to be playing around with, but now they want to build a car park here as well.
"It is our belief Hillingdon Council is utterly disregarding its responsibility to protect residents, in order to push through Mr Puddifoot's plans."
Documents seen by the Gazette quote the council's former chief engineer, Chris Thomas, in April 1992.
He said: "The depth below spillway that would prevent this type of flooding up to storm frequency of 1-in-100-years is the depth at which, due to the spell of exceptionally dry weather, the lake has remained for many months.
"This depth is 1.5m below spillway and the engineering recommendation would be that the lake level be returned to that."
