OXFORDSHIRE residents affected by a controversial Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme have today demonstrated outside a Public Inquiry into whether the scheme’s Compulsory Purchase Orders are legal.
This morning, campaigners set up early outside The Kings Centre, Osney Mead, Oxford where until December 18, an Inspector shall hear lawyers for the Environment Agency, and campaigners, present and cross-examine alternative proposals to the current scheme. Campaigners say their alternatives would reduce the tax-payer bill by £70 million, save historic, natural environment, reduce the three-to-four-year scheme time frame and, help prevent business closures caused by the lack of vehicle access during lengthy construction.
The Public Inquiry was granted due to the scheme needing nearly 1,000 Compulsory Purchase orders to obtain land. But campaigning residents say they’re not lawful, because viable alternatives exist. The inquiry Inspector is expected to report to the Environment Secretary around March 2024.
The current proposed scheme, led by the Environment Agency (EA) is said to currently cost £176-million. It includes creating a 5km long ‘channel’ which would run from just north of Botley Road, to south of the A423 southern bypass near Kennington, where it would re-join the River Thames. Leading independent ecologists say the dug channel would destroy 13 acres of the rich, rare species of the irreplaceable plant community of Hinksey meadow. The one -thousand-year-old meadow has been owned and managed by the Oxford Preservation Trust since 2003 who are also objecting. An estimated 4,000 mature trees and miles of hedgerows would also be lost in the West Oxford wildlife corridor and green belt.
The Ferry Hinksey Trust (which owns a 10-acre field on which a CPO order has been served), two Residents' Groups, the Hinksey and Osney Environment Group (HOEG) and the Oxford Flood and Environment Group (OFEG) backed by a Petition of nearly 5,000 locals, object to the scheme. They have erected 10 x 5-foot banners along the scheme’s affected areas, and this morning, as the Inquiry got under way, demonstrated outside the Inquiry’s main entrance.
Campaigners fully accept that a Flood Alleviation Scheme is needed. But, they believe that changes would make it even more effective, cost less, save the environment and reduce traffic congestion - over several years.
● Further details of the submissions by the FHT and Environment Groups to the Public Inquiry can be accessed at www.hinkseyandosney.org and www.oxfordfloodandenvironmentgroup.com
