Last night’s meeting on flooding in South Oxford attracted around 70 local residents interested to learn more about what can be done to reduce flood risk. The meeting was hosted and introduced by Cllr Anna Railton, who set the scene by describing the floods of January and February this year and issues arising.

David Macdonald, a geo-hydrologist who lives locally, gave an overview of groundwater flooding which is a particular problem in South Oxford. Rising river levels push up groundwater, and one way to reduce risk, he said, is to lower river levels.

This is what the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme aims to achieve, and Richard Harding from the Environment Agency gave a quick overview of the project. Mat Lloyd, also from the EA, spoke briefly about community flood preparedness.

Karen Fisher and Jed Ramsay then talked about Project Groundwater, a Defra funded initiative which aims to build resilience in communities particularly affected by groundwater flooding. South Oxford is one of the areas they are specifically targeting with advice and support. One issue Jed talk about was early warning systems for groundwater using advanced technologies.

Simon Collings spoke finally about Oxford Flood Alliance and gave an example from January this year of the way community organisation prevented flooding.

At the end of the meeting a number of people expressed interest in learning more about becoming a flood warden and about developing a flood plan. OFA will working in partnership with Project Groundwater in helping to create enhanced community organisation around flooding in South Oxford. The resources which Project Groundwater bring to this venture provide a great opportunity for improving the community’s resilience.

Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme, of course, remains critical to reducing flood risk in the city. Several people said they would be writing to the County Council urging them to give planning consent for the scheme.