TAXPAYERS have been asked to stump up £100,000 for a fish pass needed for a hydro power scheme in Sandford.

Low Carbon Hub has raised £1.2m to fund the project but is asking Oxford City Council to pay for the fish pass, to plug a shortfall.

This would allow it to qualify for another loan of £2m from the Charity Bank and meet its total £3.2m costs.

The city council is due to consider the loan – which would be repaid by June 2019 – at a meeting tonight.

The hub says the Sandford hydro scheme would generate about 1,600MWh every year, enough to power more than 400 homes.

Work could begin on site in two weeks' time if the city council agrees to provide the cash, operations director Adriano Figueiredo said.

He added: "We need to complete due diligence with the Charity Bank and so the loan from the city council is a critical part of our plans.

"If it is approved, we have lined everything up so we could get going as soon as possible."

Over its lifetime of 40 years, the hydro lock scheme is expected to generate £2m to fund other community energy projects, Mr Figueiredo said.

The main project itself will consist of two Archimedes screws installed in the River Thames at Sandford Weir that would be turned by the water to generate electricity.

The hub has raised £800,000 of the cash through a community share offer and £400,000 from its own finances.

City council head of financial services Nigel Kennedy said the case for making the loan was "not strong... however, this should not be seen as an income raising proposition".

The local authority previously loaned £2.3m to the hub to help fund solar panels for schools and businesses around Oxfordshire.

In a report to councillors on the executive board, Mr Kennedy wrote: "The primary drivers are to deliver innovative renewable energy projects in and around the city and to mitigate the risk of EU grant clawback.

"In making a decision, members need to consider the risks against the benefit to the community of Oxford and Oxfordshire at large in facilitating the renewable energy community projects."

He said the council's loan would be secured against Low Carbon Hub's assets, such as its solar PV schemes.

The Sandford Hydro scheme would be the second carried out by the hub, which also completed a £650,000 screw in Osney Lock last year.

The first project of its kind on the Thames, it was financed by some 200 investors who are due to be paid back within the next 20 years.