Back in 2002 a group called SAFAG (South Abingdon Floodplain Action Group) put together a detailed plan for developing the meadows along the River Ock near Tesco into a nature reserve. They had just campaigned to stop a hotel and some industrial units being built on the flood plain near Tesco. A nature reserve would stop further building on the flood plain.
For anybody interested, you can still read about that the Ock Meadows Nature Reserve project on the Safag web site.
A bad flood did hit Abingdon in July 2007. This view is from the Drayton Road bridge looking south with the Hartwells garage on the right. There is now a new group, the Ock Valley Flood Group, who are actively taking meaures to alleviate flooding. They have a forum at Preston Rd Community Centre on the evening of Friday 18th Feb at 7pm.
I wonder is all those people who bought the houses opposite Hartwells garage realise that they are built on a area prone to flooding?
Also to avoid flooding – we don’t want that monstrous reservoir with its compression of a huge fenland beyond Drayton!
The new houses on Drayton Road were designed with flooding in mind. If you look at them you will see that all the doorways are up a few steps, for example.