The valley at Redbridge is naturally narrow. This, coupled with the obstruction to water flows and loss of floodplain due to man-made structures, including landfilling with rubbish in the past, and severe pinchpoints on watercourses, leads to water being held back in the floodplain.This has implications for all settlements in the west Oxford floodplain upstream, including the city of Oxford itself.

 

In 2006/07, a serious pinchpoint on Hinksey Stream, at Towle's Mill, Redbridge, was removed by the Environment Agency. In  the summer of 2008 they cleared the watercourses of vegetation and carried out desilting at Redbridge. There remained however three principal pinchpoints (see map) restricting the conveyance of water at Redbridge at the southern end of the western Oxford floodplain. We have highlighted these to the Environment Agency and Network Rail and have worked with them to come up with solutions. The present status is described below.