BUSINESSES and town centre developers could be asked to fund a flood prevention scheme for Banbury.

The idea will be put forward at a meeting of Cherwell District Council's executive on Monday, as the council attempts to revive a flood alleviation project that was abandoned in September last year because of funding problems.

The £13m scheme would have protected low-lying areas of central Banbury and opened up town-centre land, particularly in the Cherwell Street area, for redevelopment.

The Environment Agency said scheme was viable, but it failed to win government funding.

At its budget meeting in February, CDC set aside £2m to get the scheme up and running again.

Mr James Macnamara, the council's executive member for resources, said: "The scheme was intended to ensure Banbury was safe from the 'once in a 100-year storms that seem to happen every five years nowadays.

He said parts of Banbury were now blighted for planning and development purposes, and added: "Regeneration plans for the canalside area cannot go ahead until the flood defences are built."

Mr Macnamara has since asked CDC to ringfence the £2m to ensure it will be available whenever the scheme is revived.

On Monday, CDC's executive will be asked to approve the ring-fencing, and to give the go-ahead for the council to open discussions with local businesses and potential development partners in a bid to obtain further financial contributions.

The executive will be told that businesses and land owners will benefit from the scheme, and that they should be invited to contribute towards it.

The council has met officials from the Environment Agency to discuss how the scheme could be paid for without government cash, and learned that £9m could be made available over three years through the agency's local levy process.

* Major floods last occured in Banbury in 1998 when 125 homes, 35 commercial premises, and the town's railway station were under water. The damage cost £12.5m to put right.

The abandoned scheme involves creating two flood-control structures on the River Cherwell north of Banbury, and 5ft-high flood defence walls around Wildmere Industrial Estate and between Banbury United Football Club and Tramway Road.

The Moorfield Brook pumping station, which was installed in Grimsbury in 2004, has provided protection to the homes which were under water in the floods of 1998.