Here’s the latest newsletter from the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme.
OFAS: archaeological investigations
Further archaeological investigations are starting soon in the OFAS area, with digging of trenches in places identified from previous work as being of potential interest. Teams are due to begin setting up base camp in Manor Farm, South Hinksey today. The work is expected to be completed in November 2017.
See this Archaeology Information Sheet for more details.
Oxford Times on the Public Consultation
OFAS – Public Consultation about to begin
Public consultation on the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme, OFAS, begins tomorrow.
See https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/oxford-flood-alleviation-scheme-design-consultation for more about this, and tomorrow the dedicated consultation website should be available from the link there.
Visit by EA Chair
We joined Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, the OFAS Project Team and other partners when Emma visited Oxford today. The Public Consultation for the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme is due to be launched in two days time, on Friday 23 June.
OFAS: Environmental meeting
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- Banded Demoiselle (damsefly) (Calopteryx splendens), male
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- Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum), female.
Attended an environmental update meeting yesterday, organised by the EA with a number of local environmental stakeholders attending. A lot of thought is going into making the most of possible environmental enhancements that the Scheme can bring.
Led by Penny Burt of the Environment Agency we covered surveys, ecological trial areas, archaeology, low-flows and existing watercourses, fish passage, Hinksey Meadow, trees and bridges, habitat creation and access. Also mentioned was future maintenance – we felt that the plans were not nearly long-term enough and this was discussed.
For our part we are working closely with the Freshwater Habitats Trust. The Oxford area is rich in freshwater species, though there is, nevertheless, a long term decline: this Scheme could help reverse that trend. We’d like to give the public, including school children, a chance to be involved, including with data collection in the field – sometimes called ‘citizen science’.
The damselflies in the photographs are closely associated with the freshwater habitat.
Potential for risk to life
We have a letter published in this week’s Oxford Times (click image to enlarge)
Seacourt P&R in the Oxford Mail; smart signs, plus risk to life
This article in the Oxford Mail talks about the possibility of ‘smart signs’ – electronic boards – on the ring road, to alert drivers to where there are empty park and ride spaces around Oxford. This could obviate the (claimed) need to increase the number of spaces at Seacourt, instead pointing drivers to (say) nearby Redbridge. According to an earlier report in the Oxford Mail there is apparently so much spare capacity at Redbridge that the City Council proposes to remove 270 parking spaces, and is quoted in the newspaper as saying that the loss of these spaces would be ‘marginal’.
It seems to us to be inconsistent for the City Council to argue that removing 270 spaces at Redbridge is perfectly ok, while at the same time arguing a burning need to build new spaces at Seacourt – in the floodplain, on Green Belt land, contrary to local and national planning guidance and, as far as the present application goes, creating a potential risk to life (see towards the end of the first newspaper article and our previous post). Never mind the cost, which has already risen from about £2million to over £4 million.
Our Annual Public Meeting, 22 February
Our 9th Annual Public Meeting is on Wednesday 22 February 2017.
There is lots to hear and talk about and everybody is welcome.
Seacourt P&R extension proposal: potential risk to life
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- Flood damage in Tewkesbury in 2007, wall demolished, tarmac torn up. .Photograph by kind permission of Steve Goodchild.
Liz Sawyer, who recently joined the OFA Steering Group, addressed Oxford City’s Full Council on 6 February 2017, about the potential risk to life posed by the proposed extension to Seacourt P&R.
There is also, as the photograph above shows so vividly, the potential for damage to the car park itself – and of course to vehicles. The Automobile Association’s ‘Flood Facts’ quoted in Liz’s address set out the risks of floodwaters very clearly.
Liz’s address can be downloaded here (pdf).
oxford flood alliance 