FLOOD-devastated Cowley families have hit out at the city council after hearing cash set aside following the disaster will not be paid to them.

Thames Water donated £10,000 to Normandy Crescent families affected by a burst water main last September, with Oxford City Council given responsibility to manage the Community Fund.

Residents claim it was “unanimously” agreed cash would be equally divided between them during a May meeting with a council representative.

But the council has told them the money will be returned to Thames Water if they do not suggest other uses for the cash by the end of this month.

It means all they have received from the fund is a £150 Argos voucher each.

Resident Mandy Blessing said: “Everybody unanimously agreed how the money should be spent.

“The council is deciding how this money should be spent and it’s not up to them, it’s up to the people. They are uncaring, they are not compassionate.”

The council handed out £3,200 worth of Argos vouchers at Christmas to 22 households affected by the flood and set aside £3,000 for counselling.

It also donated £200 from the fund to St Francis CofE School for its 40th anniversary celebrations, without consulting Normandy Crescent residents.

Pensioner William Hillier, who only returned to his home with wife June in April, said money from the Community Fund would help restore his back garden, which was waterlogged during the flood.

The 86-year-old added: “I don’t see why the council should decide what they like with it. If we want to give it away, we should decide. They have ignored us since last year. It’s an insult.”

City council head of housing and property services Stephen Clarke said Thames Water created the fund to cover counselling for “traumatised” residents.

He said the fund was “not intended to provide any financial compensation” but remaining funds would be used for “community-related activities and projects or improvements in the area”.

Mr Clarke added: “At no time was there any suggestion or requirement that spending from the fund would require approval from residents.

“The Community Fund is for all the residents of Normandy Crescent who were inconvenienced by the flooding and is not limited to those who were displaced.”

In a letter to residents on June 12, tenancy manager Ann Phillips said the council would be “obliged to return the funds to Thames Water” if residents did not suggest how the rest of the fund could be spent.

Thames Water spokeswoman Becky Trotman said there was no time limit on the fund and it has not been agreed that money will be returned to the company.

Mother-of-two Mrs Blessing said residents did not want counselling, instead agreeing to split the remaining cash – £6,600 – equally among families flooded out of their homes.

The 47-year-old added: “There are a lot of families that still have outstanding bills or outstanding items that were never replaced after the flood.”

City councillor for Lye Valley Pat Kennedy said it was made “quite clear” at the May meeting no decisions would be made about how the money would be distributed.

The flooding, caused by a 2.3 metre fracture to the main, hit 15 houses and eight flats, with another 27 houses cut off from the water supply.

The council plans to speak with residents about suggestions on how to spend the money and will organise a meeting in the near future.