IN 2001, Black & Veatch proposed various relief options for Oxford. Since then there have been more floods but no action.

The Environment Agency, Oxford Flood Alliance and various politicians want a “western conveyance channel”. The Treasury has withheld the millions it would cost to build.

But would a channel be a solution, or merely a bad-value vanity project like HS2? The ‘Jubilee River’ bypassing Maidenhead and Windsor is accused of flooding towns downriver. Would a channel bypassing Oxford do likewise to Abingdon and beyond? Certainly it would protect nowhere upstream of Oxford. The Windrush flooded Witney in 2007.

Recent record rainfall elsewhere in Britain should draw attention to where did not flood, and why. In parts of Cumbria, Devon, Powys, Somerset and Yorkshire, land is now managed to increase the ground’s absorption of water, and streams and small rivers are managed to slow their flow, not speed it up.

This both reduces total run-off and spreads the remainder over a longer period.

The Pontbren scheme in Powys shows that planting “contour belts” of trees enables land to absorb much more rain, without sacrificing whole fields to reforestation. And some arable crops help good soil structure and its ability to absorb water. Others, however, destroy soil structure, worsen floods and cause soil to wash away. Blocking streams with “leaky dams” and letting small rivers spread, braid and meander naturally slows their flow.

Natural solutions might cost less than re-engineering the Thames, and benefit communities along many more miles of the river and its tributaries.

HUGH JAEGER
Park Close
Oxford