THE Environment Agency has said for the first time it has identified sources for all £120m for the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme after Oxford University entered negotiations.

Project executive Richard Harding and senior flood advisor Emma Formoy broke the good news to a meeting of Oxford Flood Alliance on Wednesday night.

Oxford Flood Alliance chairman Peter Rawcliffe welcomed the funding announcement last night but once again warned the channel would only be as good as its maintenance.

He said: “Long-term maintenance is absolutely vital, this is something we are so keen on.

“Over the next few months we will be trying to push that this is an integral part of the scheme, otherwise we fear it will no longer be worth the £120m it has cost.”

It comes more than two years after David Cameron visited Oxford after the 2014 floods and pledged £42m towards the scheme, taking the total to £84m.

Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership had already promised £26m, the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee £14m, and local councils had stumped up £2m.

Since then, no more definite funding has been agreed – though several groups like Thames Water said they would probably contribute – leaving a gap of more than £20m.

The EA needs £120m to create a 5km channel around the south west of Oxford from Botley Road to Kennington to carry floodwater away from the city centre.

Ms Formoy said that although a 'a lot' of negotiations were still ongoing with potential funders, she was hopeful the EA would have shaken hands on deals to reach all £120m by May.

She also revealed for the first time that Oxford University had entered negotiations on helping fund the project.

The university previously told the Oxford Mail its money was not needed and that it would instead allow the use of its land.

University spokesman Matt Pickles said yesterday the university had 'worked with the city and county councils to win £6.2m of local government funding for infrastructure improvements in Osney Mead, of which £3m would be spent on flood relief works'.

He said the university was 'working closely with the Environment Agency' to ensure the work undertaken was 'a significant help to the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme'.

Ms Formoy also said Thames Water had pledged up to £3.4m, depending on how the scheme could help its work, and Oxfordshire County Council had offered more money.

The county last night confirmed it has pledged to contribute £5m when the scheme goes ahead, taking its total promise to £6.5m.

If the £120m is all agreed, it will fund the construction of the channel and associated flood defence works, but also, crucially, the first ten years of its maintenance.

Ms Formoy said there was also a possible source of revenue in the environmental benefits which the channel is now hoped to bring, in creating new wetland landscape for plants and animals, which could potentially be of research use to scientists.

She said: "Even if we said in theory it was fully funded, we would like more contributions. Now the potential green legacy brings another side to what people can invest in."

She also said her team was also trying to be 'more clever' about how to save money already pledged for the construction.

The EA has already saved money by paying Network Rail £1.1m to install culverts under the railway at Hinksey last February when the rail firm was doing works anyway.

Ms Formoy said she hoped to announce all funding was secured by the time the agency reveals the final design of the scheme in May.

The EA will need to prove it has enough money pledged for a working scheme in order to get Treasury approval and cash in the government contributions offered.

The agency hopes to submit a planning application to Oxford City Council on November 3 and start groundworks in September 2018.