OXFORD Flood Alliance has highlighted a new potential problem with the Seacourt Park and Ride expansion which it says could force it to close permanently.

The group has discovered that a similar car park built in a flood hot spot in Wokingham, Berkshire, was forced to close after flooding repeatedly because the council running it could not find any company willing to insure it, costing the authority millions.

Oxford City Council, which is planning the £4m expansion to Seacourt in the flood zone, has always said the extension is 'designed to flood', but questions have long been raised over the risk to cars and drivers as well as the potential cost to the council in compensation or insurance.

Now, the flood alliance says history may provide a telling precedent.

The group said it scoured the internet for a council-run car park at such a risk from flooding as Seacourt's extension will be, and came up with just one result.

The Loddon Bridge Park and Ride in Wokingham was built, like Seacourt, in one of the area's worst flood hot spots.

In 2009 it was hit by severe flooding from the River Loddon, resulting in 43 claims from drivers for damaged cars estimated to top £500,000 in total.

The local authority avoided a legal battle by paying compensation but, as a result, any time the Environment Agency issued a warning of heavy rain or flooding after that the car park was simply closed to avoid any more pay-outs.

In the first three months of 2014 the car park was open for just 13 days because it was at risk the rest of the time, costing Wokingham Borough Council and Reading Borough Council a total of £42,000.

In March that year the councils admitted they could no longer find an insurance company willing to provide a policy for the scheme, closed Loddon Bridge entirely and created a new car park in a different part of town at a cost of £1.5m.

Flood alliance chairman Peter Rawcliffe said: “This should be a warning to the council: we've been telling them all along this is an extremely unsuitable place for a car park.

"It’s already budgeted to cost £4m – add to that ongoing costs of loss of use, repair, maintenance and pumping out after every flood, along with possible compensation to vehicle owners - is this really a good use of so much public money?"

The city council, which this month won approval for the Seacourt expansion from communities secretary Sajid Javid, has never said how much it expects the insurance cover to cost for Seacourt.

However, city councillor Alex Hollingsworth, who has led on the planning, said in a statement: "This has been a rigorous process, with two independent planning committees and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government having considered matters in relation to the Seacourt Park and Ride planning application.

"Planning approval has now been granted and Oxford City Council will provide thorough oversight to confirm all construction standards are met and appropriate measures are in place to protect the safety of people and property."