Sir – There is no single, and certainly no cheap, solution to flooding in the Upper Thames Valley, but the Oxford Western Conveyance — on its own — will simply pass the problem downstream, as has happened so dramatically beyond Maidenhead and Windsor.

For the Western Conveyance to have a chance of working, we need a massive storage facility to augment our once natural, but now foolishly built-over, floodplains.

It is time to re-visit the giant reservoir project between Steventon and the Hanneys. Thames Water proposed to build this to store surplus water from the Thames when it was in spate, thus preventing flooding, and to release it back to the River Thames when it was either safe to do so or, in times of drought, when the additional water would keep the river healthy and the downstream reservoirs it feeds, topped up.

This could be a win-win-win situation: it would help to prevent surplus water from flooding downstream of Culham, it would help to maintain a healthy river and top up downstream reservoirs in times of drought, and it would provide a new water environment for people to enjoy.

A Western Conveyance through Oxford could then be operated, with additional protection for Abingdon, without adding to all the problems downstream towards Reading and beyond.

I would be adversely affected by such a reservoir, but we should be considering this at a time of national emergency since the situation is only going to get worse as the years pass, and accept this as by far the best solution for both people and the environment in our area.

In the meantime, new upland tree planting could be growing to also help alleviate the problem. I’d certainly rather be spending our money on that rather than HS2 or a replacement for Trident.

Keith Dancey, Wolvercote