Public events held for Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme

Public opinion gathered over June and July.

The Environment Agency has spent the summer holding public events across Oxford to gauge the opinion about its flood alleviation plans.

Work on the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme starts next month and work over a four-week period will allow the Environment Agency to dig boreholes and test pits into the ground.

This will help to improve understanding of the geology and underlying layers of rock and soil, while confirming groundwater levels.

But before work commences, it was important for the Environment Agency to inform local communities of the project details which will reduce flooding risks significantly.

Throughout June and July, five events took place so residents could get the opinion of any technical specialists who could provide useful information.

Attended by approximately 300 people, feedback questionnaires were completed by 135 of these and the Environment Agency has now collated the information from these.

Amongst the concerns and wishes of the local communities is the need to preserve the rich history, wildlife, culture and environment of Oxford. Residents want the project to work with the existing landscape while also reducing flood risk.

All of those involved in the project are looking into other suggestions too, such as trying to incorporate public footpaths, cycle routes and fishing facilities.

Joanna Larmour is the Project Director for the Environment Agency and she outlined the aims of the scheme.

She said: “The primary role of a flood relief channel will be to reduce flood risk to people in Oxford.

“We are continuing to work closely with local environmental groups to also look for opportunities to enhance the landscape character, cultural heritage and wildlife habitats of the area.

“We will seek to ensure that any scheme will work with natural processes to bring multiple benefits and enhancements to the local environment.”

After these five events, the team responsible for delivering the project have started to use the information to feed into their evaluations of the options available for a channel route.

These options will be shared at the next public events that will take place later in the year.

Councillor Rodney Rose, Deputy Leader for Oxfordshire County Council, commented on the importance of the public events.

He said: “As one of the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme partners, Oxfordshire County Council fully supported the public events. We are very pleased with the number of people who attended, and with their range of views and quality of information gathered.

“We look forward to being involved in similar events as the scheme progresses.”

The post Public events held for Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme appeared first on UK Construction Online.