Flood alleviation channel route will be revealed to the public this week

Environment Agency engineers will unveil their proposed course for the artificial stream at Oxford Town Hall from 2pm to 8pm.

The plans have been highly contentious already, with various people afraid the final route will cut through their land or even their home.

Designers have already said the 7km channel will run from somewhere near Seacourt Park and Ride on Botley Road, West Oxford, to somewhere near Sandford on Thames in South Oxford, carrying overflow water from the Thames outside of the city during high rainfall.

It was given Government backing after heavy flooding in January and February 2014 closed Botley Road and Abingdon Road for several days.

Options for various stretches of the channel were put to residents in a public consultation earlier this year.

One group who live on boats at Weirs Orchard Moorings were particularly worried that one of the options proposed widening their stretch of the river in South Oxford and destroying their home as they have known it for years.

Whatever the final route plan is, the EA will still need to get Government approval before going ahead.

The agency also still needs to find £27m of the cost.

Chief executive Sir James Bevan told the Oxford Mail in February he would like to see more Oxford organisations, including Oxford University, contribute to the cost of the scheme which it is hoped will benefit the economy of the whole city.