PARTS of Oxford have been ranked in the top 50 areas in the country at high risk of flooding out of 557 in a new survey.

The parliamentary constituencies of Oxford East, including flood-prone South Oxford, and Henley, including large parts of South Oxfordshire, were in the top 50 regions ranked by the number of homes at a one-in-30 risk of flooding.

The survey was commissioned by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) which is calling on the Government to spend more on flood defences.

The ABI said the Government needs to spend £1bn every year until 2025 on flood defences and mitigation in order to “keep pace with climate change”.

It has also called for “zero tolerance” of new developments in areas at risk of flooding like Oxfordshire.

The association launched its Flood Free Homes campaign yesterday a year on from devastating floods across the UK.

In Oxford, the River Thames burst its banks at the end of January last year, closing Botley Road and Abingdon Road for days.

In response, Prime Minister David Cameron visited Oxford in December to pledge £42m and his support towards a major flood channel project which would divert water around the city to the west.

Deputy director general of the ABI Huw Evans said: “The need for this campaign to address the UK’s rising flood threat has never been more important. No action is not an option.

“Last winter’s floods highlighted the trauma and devastation flooding brings. How we manage our land and water has to become central to government decision making across the UK, whoever is in power.”

View the map at floodfreehomes.org.uk/flood-map.html

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