Latest News

To see our progress to date, please watch our videos. The first video(External link) explains the need for the scheme, what the scheme includes and our project ambitions. In our second video(External link), you can find out more about floodwater storage.


Flood storage areas for further investigation

As explained in our summer newsletter, the project team has been reviewing the costs and benefits of using groups of flood storage sites to reduce flood risk. Our findings from the review show that overall the benefits of flood storage only slightly exceed the costs in the locations we have been investigating. We found that large scale flood storage does have potential to help reduce flood risk to people and properties along the River Thames. However, the benefits in reducing flood risk would not be enough to gain funding and approvals. We are therefore not able to progress catchment scale flood storage at this time.

The green dots on the map show the approximate locations for the flood storage areas that we were investigating. While we will not continue investigating these as part of the Thames Valley Flood Scheme, we are looking into a potential opportunity on the River Ock near Abingdon. This is highlighted by the pink circle.

We are not able to take this location forward as a flood storage area at this time as part of the Thames Valley Flood Scheme, or as a project on its own. However, it is near the area being investigated by Thames Water for the South East Strategic Reservoir Option(External link) (SESRO) and we are looking to see if there are any opportunities alongside this to reduce flood risk. There is no guarantee that this will be possible, but it is worth exploring. We would like to stress that the Environment Agency is first and foremost a regulator of Thames Water. Our regulatory role is to ensure that any potential impacts on the environment and local area, such as flood risk, are minimised or mitigated.


Natural Flood Management

We are continuing to explore how we can support natural flood management work being completed by partners and communities across the Thames Valley. Natural flood management has many benefits beyond flood risk, and the Environment Agency will continue to support the great work already happening across the catchment.


Moving forward

While we are not continuing to develop catchment wide flood storage at this time, we at the Environment Agency remain dedicated to reducing flooding in the Thames area. We know how important it is to keep our communities safe from floods.

We’ll use what we’ve learned from this project to improve our future work. To do this, we will:

  • Investigate ways to manage flood risk in other areas where schemes are not yet planned.
  • Progress other planned flood risk schemes, like the River Thames Scheme and the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme.
  • Work with local councils to support their surface water schemes and explore smaller scale opportunities to manage flood risk in the area.
  • Continue to warn and inform communities when a flood is expected through our Flood Warning Service, giving people time to act.
  • Keep working with communities to ensure those at flood risk are aware and know how to prepare and respond.
  • Share our improved flood risk data with local councils in the Thames catchment area and the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee to support local flood response plans.

Contact us

To find out how to keep up to date with our latest news, visit our Contact Us page.

To view any of our previous newsletters, follow the links at the top of the page.



To see our progress to date, please watch our videos. The first video(External link) explains the need for the scheme, what the scheme includes and our project ambitions. In our second video(External link), you can find out more about floodwater storage.


Flood storage areas for further investigation

As explained in our summer newsletter, the project team has been reviewing the costs and benefits of using groups of flood storage sites to reduce flood risk. Our findings from the review show that overall the benefits of flood storage only slightly exceed the costs in the locations we have been investigating. We found that large scale flood storage does have potential to help reduce flood risk to people and properties along the River Thames. However, the benefits in reducing flood risk would not be enough to gain funding and approvals. We are therefore not able to progress catchment scale flood storage at this time.

The green dots on the map show the approximate locations for the flood storage areas that we were investigating. While we will not continue investigating these as part of the Thames Valley Flood Scheme, we are looking into a potential opportunity on the River Ock near Abingdon. This is highlighted by the pink circle.

We are not able to take this location forward as a flood storage area at this time as part of the Thames Valley Flood Scheme, or as a project on its own. However, it is near the area being investigated by Thames Water for the South East Strategic Reservoir Option(External link) (SESRO) and we are looking to see if there are any opportunities alongside this to reduce flood risk. There is no guarantee that this will be possible, but it is worth exploring. We would like to stress that the Environment Agency is first and foremost a regulator of Thames Water. Our regulatory role is to ensure that any potential impacts on the environment and local area, such as flood risk, are minimised or mitigated.


Natural Flood Management

We are continuing to explore how we can support natural flood management work being completed by partners and communities across the Thames Valley. Natural flood management has many benefits beyond flood risk, and the Environment Agency will continue to support the great work already happening across the catchment.


Moving forward

While we are not continuing to develop catchment wide flood storage at this time, we at the Environment Agency remain dedicated to reducing flooding in the Thames area. We know how important it is to keep our communities safe from floods.

We’ll use what we’ve learned from this project to improve our future work. To do this, we will:

  • Investigate ways to manage flood risk in other areas where schemes are not yet planned.
  • Progress other planned flood risk schemes, like the River Thames Scheme and the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme.
  • Work with local councils to support their surface water schemes and explore smaller scale opportunities to manage flood risk in the area.
  • Continue to warn and inform communities when a flood is expected through our Flood Warning Service, giving people time to act.
  • Keep working with communities to ensure those at flood risk are aware and know how to prepare and respond.
  • Share our improved flood risk data with local councils in the Thames catchment area and the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee to support local flood response plans.

Contact us

To find out how to keep up to date with our latest news, visit our Contact Us page.

To view any of our previous newsletters, follow the links at the top of the page.



Page last updated: 21 Nov 2024, 06:56 AM