7 October 2014
South Hinksey: Oxfordshire County Council Engineers are to fit a non-return flap-valve to a surface water drain where is empties into a field ditch: this will prevent water pouring from the ditch into the street in low-order flood events. The Parish Council requested this, and was supported by OFA. The work should be done this month. Thank you County Engineers.
5 October 2014
Peter Rawcliffe was interviewed by Bill Heine on Radio Oxford, to do with flooding in Normandy Crescent (between Hollow Way and the Eastern By-Pass) caused two weeks ago by a burst water main. About 50 houses were flooded – a catastrophe for many people. The area was flooded by a previous burst seven years ago, very possibly on the same mains pipe. We remember too the burst water main in South Hinksey in February 2012, when several houses were flooded: some were still undergoing repair 18 months later. Edit: to that add the inundation of Earl Street by a burst main in 1990 or 1991. There are probably others.
Do we now have a “new cause” of flooding to add to the list?
We hope Thames Water will, in Normandy Crescent (and anywhere else)
act on them promptly and effectively.
1 October 2014
OFA attended today’s OAFP meeting:
We asked the EA about progress on our proposals for working with them to ensure that riparian owners maintain the long rural stretches of waterways for which they (the owners) are legally responsible. The EA have prepared an ownership map as we agreed when last we met, so we hope to meet with them again soon.
The problem of flood water (groundwater?) in the back gardens on both sides of Earl Street was discussed. It is hoped that pumps in two gardens and property-level protection will resolve the problem: OFA and the City Council are working together on it.
OFA’s recent reconnaissance trip by canoe from South Hinksey to Redbridge discovered several serious obstructions, trees and so on. We showed photographs of some of them today and they have been reported to the EA as needing removal.
28 September 2014
Four of us were interviewed by Japan’s NHK for a television documentary on climate change. NHK is Japan’s national public broadcaster, and Japan’s largest broadcasting organization. The interviews and filming covered OFA’s evolution as a community organisation and what we have done, and the problems of flooding and measures taken to reduce its impact as exemplified in the Botley Road area and South Hinksey, while John Mastroddi highlighted the important multi-partner project at Munday’s bridge. The Committee on Climate Change, Thames Estuary 2100, Thames Barriers and others will form part of the programme too – it’s due out in Japan (with subtitles!) in November and internationally in December.
22 August 2014
Members of the Steering Group had a very helpful meeting with Holly Foreman of the EA. Discussion included progress on the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme; developing a Q & A about this scheme; organising long-stretch maintenance by riparian owners (where progress has been slow).
2 June 2014
A new member for our Steering Group
Adrian Porter, of South Hinksey, has accepted our invitation to join the OFA Steering Group. We are delighted: he is already knowledgeable and active on flooding and will be a great asset to OFA.
22 May 2014
OFA has been invited to send a delegate to a workshop looking at developing a possible new national flood risk assessment scheme. The workshop is being organised by the Environment Agency National Modelling and Mapping team and is being held in London on 4 June. Nick Hills will be representing OFA.
21 May 2014
Simon Collings of OFA spoke about the proposed Oxford Relief River (aka Western Conveyance) at a public meeting organised by Low Carbon West Oxford. The main speaker was Dr Doug Parr, the Chief Scientific Officer of Greenpeace, who gave a presentation about climate change. Simon then spoke about the increased frequency of flooding in Oxford in recent years, the steps which have been taken to reduce flood risk in the city, and about why we need the larger scheme being proposed by the Environment Agency.
13 May 2014
Flood Support Grants – message from Oxford City Council: if you were affected by flooding between 1 December 2013 and 31 March this year, you might be interested in the financial support detailed in this Flood Support Leaflet. Anyone interested in applying can find application forms on the council website http://www.oxford.gov.uk/floodingsupport or call 01865 249811 for further information.
9 May 2014
Simon Collings represented OFA at a meeting of the City Council’s Scrutiny Committee today where the subject of sewer flooding was discussed. Senior representatives of Thames Water were present. Sewer overflow has been a problem in parts of the city for years and is particularly bad when river flooding occurs. The meeting discussed the various issues and possible solutions. The dialogue was constructive and Thames Water and the Council are currently agreeing a communication about the outcomes of the meeting. We hope to be able to say more in the near future. Our sense is that real progress is now being made.
oxford flood alliance 