A marauding mechanical mole was the unlikely culprit as work on a £2 million flood relief scheme in the Welsh town Haverfordwest was interrupted this week. The pre-programmed tunnelling machine, which is 5 foot in diameter costs £250,000, went our of control after veering off course under a perimeter wall, threatening to devastate the foundations of a nearby 130-year old chapel, before finally coming to rest and being left stranded underground.

A spokesman for Welsh Water, who brought the mole in to lay concrete pipes for the flood relief scheme, said: "During this part of the project the drilling equipment strayed several feet off course and is now under a small perimeter wall of the chapel. We immediately stopped work while checks are carried out to ensure that there is no risk of any structural damage to the chapel. We are confident that there is no such risk and, when this is confirmed, we will resume work. This will be by agreement with the church."

Elsewhere, the government has been accused of being too tight-fisted when it comes to spending on flood defences - an approach that critics say could lead to great swathes of the South of England being lost to the sea.

Jonathan Sayeed, Tory spokesman on environment, food and rural affairs, told MPs in Westminster that despite the threats of global warming and coastal erosion, central funding for sea defences had dropped by almost 50%.

He said: "Despite increasing pressure on UK coastlines from erosion, despite rising sea-levels and the gradual sinking of the south eastern corner of England, sea defences remain hopelessly underfunded. The effect of this parsimony will be more misery, unnecessary cost and more of the south of England will be lost to the sea."

Junior environment minister Elliot Morley responded by saying: "It's not an issue of the money being allocated that has been dropping. It's been an issue of some schemes which have slipped in relation to the schemes which have been approved by local authorities. The money hasn't been lost, in many cases it's been reallocated elsewhere in the overall flood and coastal budget. Since 1997 the overall spend on flood and coastal defence has increased consistently under this government."