FORTY businesses attended a breakfast seminar in the city on Tuesday to discuss what needs to be done to safeguard their work in the event of flooding.

Entitled Keeping your Business Afloat, the event was jointly organised by the Salisbury Business Improvement District, Salisbury & District Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses.

It was also attended by the Environment Agency.

Steve Godwin from the BID said: "In the winter of 2014 when Salisbury was close to flooding, it could have been as severe as that experienced in 1915, when much of the city, including the cathedral was under water.

"Businesses should not be complacent, and should put into place a contingency plan so that if the worst happens they are prepared.

"Working closely with the Environment Agency, we are currently putting together a Business Information Action card aimed at educating businesses so that they are prepared."

He added: "Flooding on the scale of 1915 would have a severe impact on trading and would see a loss of services including potential breakdown of IT, restricted vehicular access and drainage failure, issues that would affect all businesses in Salisbury, not just those on ground level.

"If businesses are flooded, the knock-on effect to trade could last weeks and weeks, even months.

"Protection should therefore be at the forefront of people’s minds in case heavy rain leads to localised flooding in many of the fields and open spaces in and around the area."