ARCHAEOLOGICAL investigations for Oxford's £120m flood channel are beginning this month.

The Environment Agency has said it will digging near Botley Road in the coming days and continue through to November.

Trenches will be dug along the 5km channel route down through North and South Hinksey to Sandford.

The New Hinksey Causeway, near The Fishes pub, will be closed for a short period of time in the autumn.

The findings will form part of the planning application next year.

The EA's senior archaeologist Catherine Grindey said: "Completing this work will allow us to design the scheme taking into consideration areas of archaeological interest.

"These archaeological investigations follow on from previous archaeological work on Old Abingdon Road that has contributed to our understanding of Oxford’s history."

The EA has already carried out ground-penetrating radar surveys and will now focus its investigations in areas of archaeological interest including the Botley Mill area in North Hinksey and Hinksey Causeway.

After the archaeological investigations are completed the EA said it would fill in trenches and seed the soil with a Natural England-approved grass mix.

Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme project director Joanna Larmour said: "These archaeological surveys form part of our Environmental Impact Assessment which helps us to reduce any impacts our work might have and to identify where we can improve the environment in the scheme area.

"The information from these investigations will be included in our planning submission in spring next year."