ROWERS, kayakers and river dwellers got their chance to raise concerns about the Oxford flood alleviation scheme at the first city centre workshop on it.

Dozens of people quizzed Environment Agency officers about the £120m flood channel and associated works at Tuesday’s drop-in session at Oxford Town Hall.

James Baldwin, who lives on a narrow boat moored at Weirs Mill Stream near Donnington Bridge, wanted to see what truth there was behind rumours that the EA might widen the river bank where he lives, destroying the moorings which are home to about 16 boats.

The 39-year-old Oxford University employee said: “This is a private mooring and there’s very much a community spirit.

“If they widened the channel our mooring site would be effectively removed.

“We recognise that flooding is horrible for a lot of people in Oxford, and if it has to be done so be it, but we want it to be avoided if possible.”

He said as much in a feedback form for the EA.

Environmental project manager Penny Burt confirmed the EA was looking at the option of widening various waterways throughout Oxford to take extra water, but she said: “We are looking at all options at this point.”

Richard Bailey, a member of Oxford’s City Barge rowing club, said he did not expect the scheme to have any effect on how his group uses the river.

But he said the boathouse, which it shares with Hertford College, does flood, as does a storage barn it uses in South Hinksey.

Most of the basements in Mr Bailey’s street – Western Road, off Abingdon Road – ended up under water during the February 2014 floods.

He said at the workshop: “I like what they’re trying to do, even if it is quite ambitious.”

The main scheme proposed would see a five-metre wide channel created, running from just north of Botley Road to near Sandford-on-Thames.

This would carry overflow water from the Thames around Oxford, reducing the risk of the water flooding city roads.

A 50m-wide area around the channel planted with marsh plants such as reeds would take even more water.

It is hoped the scheme would take 1,800 Oxford residents currently at a one-in-100-year risk of flooding out of that danger bracket.

The EA has been running workshops across the city and in Abingdon to get residents’ feedback on the scheme.

After the final one at South Oxford Community Centre in Lake Street, tomorrow the agency will compile the feedback and publish a report within a few months.

The EA’s engagement manager for the scheme Joanne Emberson-Wines said: “It’s been going very well so far.

“People are absolutely engaged. They’ll spend a lot of time and ask good questions.”