AN EYNSHAM woman fearful of the flooding risks posed by a development of 100 houses has lost a High Court fight to block the plans.

The Appeal Court in London upheld West Oxfordshire District Council’s decision to grant planning permission to housebuilder Taylor Wimpey to build on land to the east of the village.

The court rejected Brenda Dry’s claims the council failed adequately to take the flooding risk into account.

Giving the court’s reasons in a written judgment, Lord Justice Carnwath said High Court judge Mr Justice Mitting, who had rejected Ms Dry’s challenge in June, had “reached the correct conclusion”.

Ms Dry argued that the council had granted planning permission on the basis of an Environment Agency (EA) map indicating the majority of the site was in a relatively low flood risk zone, but in September 2009, the EA map was changed, placing the majority of the site in a higher-risk zone.

Lord Justice Carnwath said: “There was nothing new [in the flood map], and no reason for a rational planning committee to change its mind.”