Sir - Following the flooding in West and South Oxford last summer, I wrote to the Environment Agency expressing my concern that the proposed Westgate development includes two floors of multi-storey car park underground.

Since the development was granted planning permission, planning law has changed and developers are now required to assess the impact of their development on groundwater, which they were previously not required to do.

I have been assured' by officers from the groundwater' team at the EA and subsequently by the Thames west area manager that: a) The aquifer beneath Oxford has sufficient capacity to absorb any water displaced by the building of an underwater, sorry I mean underground, car park and b) A huge pipe will be inserted which will have the capacity to carry excess water away from the area (though I have not managed to find out where that water will be carried to, nor how the water knows that that is what the pipe is intended for). I don't know if local residents in South and West Oxford will be reassured by this. I certainly am not.

Deborah Glass Woodin, Green county councillor, Isis division