Community flood projects awarded £500k of funding

Hasley Brook is the subject of a flood scheme involving Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust and Little Milton Parish Council

More than £500,000 in grants is being awarded to 39 schemes aimed at reducing flooding across Oxfordshire.

The county council said it received over 80 applications earlier this year for its priority action grants, which support community-led efforts to improve flood resilience.

Successful projects - each receiving up to £25,000 - include surface drainage upgrades, timber dam installations, flood sensors and natural flood management.

The funding will also cover surveys, workshops, flood response kits, resilience mapping and public information booklets.

Last year's inaugural scheme awarded £250,000 for small-scale work tackling flooding from surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses.

This year's recipients include city, district, parish and town councils, schools, wildlife organisations, the National Trust and residents' flood groups.

The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) is to receive two grants to carry out natural flood management and other work – one at Carswell Marsh near Faringdon and another at Little Milton, in association with the parish council.

BBOWT senior reserves officer Daniel Akam said the Hasley Brook watercourse had been "altered historically to drain agricultural land more efficiently".

'Extreme weather'

He said that at Wells Farm, which is close to Little Milton, "much of the brook flows through woodland in a natural way and is allowed to spill over, making the woodland wet".

"This already helps slow and store the water on the nature reserve and is of great benefit to the local wildlife," Mr Akam said.

"The funding will allow us to naturalise another section that was historically canalised and deepened."

Judy Roberts, cabinet member for place, environment and climate action, said the quality of submissions "was extremely high".

"This grant scheme... is a part of our drive to help residents take effective action to tackle flooding and extreme weather, which is being exacerbated by climate change," she added.