It was gratifying to see that the £26m funding for the Western Conveyance, just announced by the government, was front-page news (July 7).

However, it might be helpful to reassure readers that the Oxford and Abingdon scheme will not be a concrete channel along its entire length, although this might be required along relatively short stretches.

A description of the most likely type of channel can be found on our website. It should be stressed, however, that the design and the precise route of the conveyance has yet to be finalised, so while we believe what we say is, broadly speaking, correct, it is not definitive.

A search for “western conveyance Oxford” will take readers straight there – an extract follows: “It will be a flood relief channel, not ‘another Thames’ – not least because in times of lower water levels the River Thames will still need most of the available water to remain navigable.

So the ORR [Oxford Relief River/Western Conveyance] in the open floodplain will be a so-called two-stage channel – that is a smallish watercourse with water in all year but having very wide (many metres), shallowly sloping, ‘sides’ which can fill with water during floods.

“Most of the year (apart from the small deeper central channel) it will be dry and grazed by animals as at present but in flood times it will fill and do the job.”

Mindful of the need to quell anxiety among local environmental groups, a meeting, proposed and attended by Oxford Flood Alliance, was convened at County Hall recently. The meeting brought together many of these groups and the Environment Agency to ensure that the environment through which the channel passes is enhanced, rather than threatened.

Nick Hills

Oxford Flood Alliance Steering Group

Today’s letters

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