Any lingering doubts about the determination of the green-minded residents of West Oxford to build a hydro at Osney Lock were well and truly sunk this week.

Not only did they succeed in selling £320,000 worth of shares in their scheme, they did so in just ten days to meet a seemingly impossible deadline imposed on them by the Environment Agency.

Work will be under way in a matter of weeks, with no obstacle insurmountable to the low carbon group who came together in 2007, when the floods that overwhelmed their streets brought the issue of climate change horribly close to home. Many of us believed that West Oxford’s Low Carbon group was simply a one-off. For not many other residential areas could call upon energy consultants, architects and in Barbara Hammond, a women who worked for the Government’s chief science advisor.

So it has come as something of a surprise to learn that West Oxford may in fact be paving the way for numerous other hydro schemes on the Thames as it passes through Oxfordshire — so many in fact that it is difficult to locate a lock or weir where there will not be one (although it must be stressed the various schemes are at different stages of development.) This being the case, however, must mean that the issue of hydro schemes should be examined dispassionately, in a clear-sighted way, with no place for sentimentality about plucky neighbours banding together to try to make a difference, or simplistic views about harnessing all that free power at weirs. Dr Alan Butterworth, of the Angling Trust, raises serious concerns about the potential impact on the fish population, decrying the lack of proper research so far, either locally or nationally. Dr Butterworth is not some short-sighted angler, but has 33 years of experience studying the Thames working in the Environment Agency’s Fisheries and Biodiversity Department. He talks about weir pools, depleted water flows and the natural movement of sediment with authority.

So many hydro schemes could have a real and lasting effect, he warns. He wisely suggests that the impact of the Osney Lock scheme needs to be carefully assessed before licences are handed out in the rush to satisfy well-meaning community groups. For the reality is that the Thames is never going to provide a significant amount of the region’s electricity — we are talking about the equivalent of providing the electricity needs of between 50 and 100 homes for each micro-hydro. West Oxford was involved in a race against time to save its scheme. But let us ensure time is taken to undertake expert research before the flood gates are truly opened.