THE Environment Agency is one of those organisations that appears to promote good work, but where decisions and funding seem to take an age to be agreed, if at all.

An announcement yesterday all but scuppered a £3.7m flood defence scheme close to where 17-year-old Max Weeden drowned in five feet of water in a Witney culvert. Soon after the tragedy, the agency commissioned a £50,000 feasibility study that concluded a relief scheme was “technically feasible”.

But yesterday, the project was deemed too expensive.

The agency is largely dependent on the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for its money. And Defra said the scheme didn't meet its criteria.

It was a cruel blow to all those who have campaigned for improvements following Max’s sad death.

The man in charge of Defra is Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, who came to Oxford to see for himself the damage caused by flooding.

Yesterday's decision adds to scepticism surrounding grand ideas to prevent flooding in the city. Will anything ever be done? Possibly. But the jury is out as to whether it will happen before the next deluge.