OXFORD residents look to have won their battle for flood barriers in the most vulnerable parts of the city.

The Environment Agency confirmed that it is hoping to provide up to four mobile flood barriers to protect homes.

With the cost of each barrier put at between £500,000 and £1m, the Agency said funding was available and a detailed study was now under way.

But one residents group is claiming that flood-hit streets could be protected for as little as £30,000.

The idea of a temporary flood barrier for parts of Osney Island was first proposed by the local residents' association, who believe they should be put up in East Street and West Street.

Last month barriers were included on a shortlist of 12 priority proposals to strengthen city flood defences submitted to the Agency by Oxford City Council.

The Environment Agency said it was now consulting staff in the Midlands, where barriers are already in use, to establish where they could work best in Oxford.

Spokesman Dave Ferguson said: "We believe mobile barriers could play a role in reducing flooding in certain areas. This is something we are now looking at seriously.

"There is funding available for measures such as this, if we can prove that the barriers would make a difference."

The barriers would most likely be stored in the EA's depot on Osney Island and assembled at times of flood risk.

He said the EA was now talking to engineering experts and emergency services about the best available systems and feasibility.

"We have colleagues in the Midlands, who have had much more experience of this type of flood defence. We need to make sure that it would be a workable measure for Oxford."

Osney Island Residents Association chairman Richard Thurston said: "This is great news. It seems a brilliantly simple idea.

"Something seems to be happening after all the months of inactivity. At least the agency is acting more swiftly than Oxford City Council, which is moving at the speed of a glacier."

He believed the estimated cost of the barriers put forward by the city council was way off the mark.

"The cost of a barrier that we have been quoted is £2,500 for 10m. This means it would cost only £30,000 to safeguard East Street. That's quite a bit less than the city council's figure of up to £1m.

"The air-filled barriers could be put up in six minutes. There is no reason why local flood wardens could not be trained to do it. They are really just like giant bouncy castles. We think they could make a big difference.

"During the summer floods, when the river was threatening to burst its banks, residents were forced to make their own flood barrier with sandbags and polythene sheeting. It took hours to build."

The mobile barriers have been used successfully at Upton-on-Severn. Permanent foundations are required to support the air filled barriers, overlaid with panels and covered with impermeable liner. Rising flood waters apply the downward pressure on the frame to keep them in place.

It is understood that the EA has also been examining the idea of building a permanent barrier in Osney Mead, with a small wall erected along the far edge of the tow path to provide further protection.

Residents will now also be pressing for a mobile barrier to run across Botley Road, West Street, near Bullstake Close and in the Abingdon Road area.

Susanna Pressel, city councillor for Osney and Jericho, said: "Mobile barriers are well worth trying. My great worry is whether there would be sufficient man power to erect them at times when EA staff would be busy doing things like evacuating elderly people.

"It is very frustrating to watch these organisations acting as though there was all the time in the world to address these problems, when residents are terrified that the next heavy rain will lead to homes being flooded again."

Residents groups welcomed news that Thames Water had flushed drains at Osney, which had been 50 per cent silted up. It is also expected that an aging fixed pump on West Street is shortly to be replaced.