Smaller flood schemes (From The Oxford Times)

Smaller flood schemes

6:20am Thursday 14th January 2010 in Letters

Sir – As you reported on Christmas Eve, the Environment Agency has announced that the flood protection scheme, to protect Oxford from floods so severe they only occur once every 75 years, has been postponed indefinitely. Disappointing, but not surprising: it always seemed doubtful whether this ambitious and expensive scheme would materialise.

That is why for the past two years the Oxford Flood Alliance has urged lesser, but earlier, action. The Environment Agency and Oxford city have responded positively and much work was done last year. Thames Water and the Vale of White Horse District Council have contributed to local schemes. Despite this progress (and even without the possible adverse effects of climate change) flooding still poses a very serious risk to the city of Oxford. Much more needs to be done — that, of course, is why the big scheme was developed. Some future floods will dwarf those seen in recent years. With the big scheme now on indefinite hold we hope to develop, with the authorities, a medium-term flood strategy for Oxford.

We have already identified nine or ten measures across the area which, while not yet costed, we believe can be achieved at a fraction of the £100-150m that was projected for the big scheme. These measures would further reduce flood risk, keeping water flowing through the floodplain rather than accumulating, and helping to keep people dry from all but the most extreme events.

We believe that everyone — the agencies mentioned, the county council, and Oxford’s civic bodies — will want to pull together on this. We are optimistic that our politicians, both locally and nationally, will agree that the necessary money will be money well spent, so that the threat facing many thousands of homes and hundreds of businesses in Oxford is reduced.

Dr Peter Rawcliffe, Oxford Flood Alliance