Oxford University College Christ Church and its partner Dorchester Residential Management are planning to build 1,450 new homes at Bayswater Brook to the north of Barton.
But the land in question has been hit with flooding this week as the county has has had a month’s rainfall in two days.
David Charles, who lives in the area, took photos at the scene and questioned if the developers had sufficient flood defences planned.
He said: “Can the developers guarantee that the 1,000 plus houses they are applying to build will not be regularly flooded out when we have heavy rain?”
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Bayswater Brook flooding (Image: Contributed) A spokesperson for the development said: “Recent rainfall has been particularly heavy across Oxfordshire, with more than a month’s rainfall falling over two days and we are aware that Barton and some of the surrounding areas have been affected by the flooding.
“This makes it all the more important that we have been working closely with all our consultees, including the Environment Agency, to bring forward a plan for the area which provides the homes, open spaces and infrastructure that Oxford needs while addressing the more frequent climate events such as this.
“Our plans significantly increase flood plain water storage capacity for the whole area while enhancing river corridors to improve water flow, creating additional habitat and opportunities for wildlife to flourish in the process.
“Overall, our proposals will address flooding, as well as reducing the flooding risk for existing homes on nearby roads, through the delivery of an exemplary surface water drainage scheme.
“We will deliver substantially more biodiversity net gain in these areas than Government standards.
Our approach has been reviewed and confirmed through our engagement with the Environment Agency with no objections raised on surface water and flood alleviation schemes.”
The development will be helped by Thames Water’s long overdue plans to upgrade Oxford Sewage Treatment Works.
Works will include trebling storm tank capacity, increasing sewage treatment flows by 80 per cent and raising power supplies.
However, it is likely to take seven years to deliver the full upgrade.
The Environment Agency objected to the city council’s proposed Local Plan for 2040 because a lack of investment in the Oxford Sewage Treatment Works meant it did not have the capacity to cope.
The council warned it could hit the delivery of more than 4,000 homes and over 500,000 square metres of commercial schemes up until March 2028.
In addition, parts of Cherwell, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts are also connected to the works, which deals with waste from more than 200,000 people.