Category Archives: Local issues

South Hinksey demo

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IMG_6138 South Hinksey demo

25 October 2014
Successful South Hinksey ‘demo’ to press for temporary barriers should flooding come again. OFA supported the PC and community – who are asking for preparatory groundwork to be done by the Vale District Council. The village will provide volunteers to erect the barrier. Well over 100 people came from throughout the parish, plus OFA Steering Group members, and formed a ‘human barrier’. Our MP Nicola Blackwood, our Labour PPC Sally Copley and our LibDem PPC Layla Moran were all there supporting us. The event was reported, with photograph, in the Oxford Mail and Oxford Times.

Earl Street upgrade

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15 October 2014

OFA is working with the City Council on a plan to upgrade the static pumps at the southern end of Earl Street, and to install either sumps and pumps or a static/passive drainage system to protect the rear of properties on both sides in conjunction with property-level protection. Nick Hills will be meeting council officers shortly to finalise plans. We are hopeful that funds will be made available through DEFRA grants.

Castle Mill Stream

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7 October 2014

William Edginton from Jericho has helpfully reported several obstructions (trees etc) on the Castle Mill Stream  – we have passed this on to the Environment Agency who plan to deal with them in the next 2 to 3 weeks. William has also offered to watch this stream for us and report any problems in future – a most welcome offer, thank you. Thanks also to the EA for getting on with this and other clearances.

A flap valve for South Hinksey

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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.

Burst main

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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?

  • Are these disasters a reflection of a poor state of mains pipes more widely in the Oxford area?
  • Can we expect more burst mains as old pipes fail?
  • When the repair is done at the site of the rupture, is the rest of the pipe being checked to assess its state?
  • If so, is this being acted on speedily?

We hope Thames Water will, in Normandy Crescent (and anywhere else)

  • be speedy and thorough in its clear up
  • communicate well with residents
  • promptly investigate the state of the whole pipe concerned
  • make public the results of those investigations

act on them promptly and effectively.

Meeting in South Hinksey

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5 May 2014

Peter Rawcliffe of OFA gave an informal presentation to South Hinksey Parish Council on flooding, outlining the proposed Oxford Relief River (aka Western Conveyance) project and discussing what might be available to protect South Hinksey in the years before that becomes effective, or in the event of it not going ahead.

Work begins at Munday’s

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Work starts at Munday’s
Work starts at Munday’s

8 April 2013

Work has now begun to improve Munday’s bridge, Kennington. It has been a very long wait (see 9 March) but well worth waiting for. We have been critical of Thames Water recently, over sewer flooding in various parts of Oxford, but on Munday’s we owe them a big thank you, as their work will help not only in Kennington but in the west Oxford flood plain generally. Especial thanks too to the residents who are having to put up with months of work, including pile-driving at night.

Munday’s bridge under the railway at Kennington

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9 March 2013

We have been urging that this serious bottleneck near Redbridge be sorted out since 2007. Improvements were made in 2009, but more was needed.

Now there is a multi-partner project between Thames Water, Network Rail, Oxford City Council, Vale of White Horse District Council and Oxfordshire County Council to make further improvements. Delays due to legal issues have now been resolved, thanks to help from Oxford’s two MPs, Nicola Blackwood and Andrew Smith. We hope work will now start in early April, but as things are now almost a year late we will only be sure when it actually begins. Nevertheless, action is in sight, and will help reduce the flood risk for many people.