A £2m riversports centre for Oxford could be scaled down after the foot and mouth epidemic, coupled with high waters, revealed the original site may not be the best.

Six clubs have met representatives from the city and county councils and Sport England to discuss plans to establish a complex on land next to Donnington Bridge.

The scheme aims to end elitism in river sports such as rowing, sculling and canoeing, by providing opportunities for state school children, the disabled, minority communities and women to take up the sports. It has already won the backing of the Amateur Rowing Association, which has said the project is a priority project for the south east of England.

But recent high river levels combined with restrictions imposed following the foot and mouth disease outbreak, have raised concerns that the site where Falcon Rowing and Canoe Club, the City of Oxford Rowing Club and the Riverside Centre are based may not be able to cope with the boathouse envisaged.

Now other options are being considered, including splitting the scheme on to two separate sites, with an off-river centre being developed later. Charles Freeman, Sport England case officer, said he was confident the project would still get off the ground, but not necessarily in the form originally intended.

He said: "The project is all about breaking down elitism in the riversports. That does not have to be incorporated into one building.

"There are lots of options being discussed on ways to achieve the same objective. The clubs are consulting on the way forward and I think it is great that they are being imaginative.

"But we cannot say whether the bid will succeed.

"It has recently become apparent that this scale of investment on that site might not be the best possible long-term solution.

"The river capacity cannot necessarily accommodate the level of activity intended.

"The clubs may need to be more flexible."

Falcon, City of Oxford, Hinksey Sculling School, Oxford Adaptive Rowers, Oxford Sub Aqua Club and the Riverside Club are to join together to form the Oxford Riversports Club, which will bid for £2m of lottery funding, backed by the city and county councils.

Peter Travis, chairman of Falcon Rowing and Canoe Club, who is heading the project, said: "We have to show we can deliver what the National Lottery people want.

"We may not be able to afford to do everything on one site. It was suggested we use the present site to set up a building in the short term. But we still want to be ambitious with the project. Nothing is definite yet."