A CONTROVERSIAL link road plan for Witney will put homes at risk of flooding, claims a report commissioned by a resident fighting the scheme.

It says Oxfordshire County Council’s plan under-estimates the risk of flooding the road would pose to homes on the Cogges estate.

The £19.5m Cogges Link Road is intended to cut congestion and pollution in Bridge Street, a traffic bottleneck in the town.

It will run around the Cogges estate, from Oxford Hill to the Station Lane roundabout by Sainsbury’s.

But James Mawle, who owns part of the land which the council wants to use, has commissioned a report which he says shows the plan is flawed.

The council says land at Northern Hay Meadows will be able to take flood water without it spilling into streets in the estate.

The meadows, between the Cogges estate and the Sainsbury’s supermarket roundabout, north of the A40 bypass, will be lowered to take more flood water. The link road will run through this area.

The plan was based on the 2007 floods, but the report commissioned by Mr Mawle said they were worse than recorded by the council.

The report, by engineering firm Clarke Bond, cites photographic evidence and eyewitness statements .

Mr Mawle, who compared the link road to a “dam”, said: “They will not be able to provide compensatory storage for this scheme.

“The compensatory storage will be Witney or Cogges.”

David Condon, chairman of the Witney branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, backed Mr Mawles’ case. He said: “As this report conclusively proves, the council’s flood modelling is based on highly inaccurate data. Should the road ever be built, it would unquestionably create a serious flood risk, the impact of which would be felt directly on homes, businesses and people’s lives here in Witney.”

The report analyses data from a county council flood report, produced by consultancy firm Jacobs, which says there was “relatively little” flooding in 2007.

The Jacobs report said the road would take away 1,091 cubic metres of flood water storage space, but lowering the land would create 1,205 cubic metres of storage capacity.

It said the extra storagewould be able to take the flood waters, a claim now disputed by Mr Mawle’s report.

County council spokesman Marcus Mabberley said the authority stood by its figures.

He said its analysis “allowed the development of a scheme to ensure that there would be no loss of active flood storage”.