FIREFIGHTERS were out in force today demonstrating how £59,000 worth of temporary pipes will keep the city moving along Botley Road.

In 2014 the road was shut down by the fire service as serve floods forced them to run hoses across it in a bid to remove all the excess water. 

Instead of going over, 300 metres of pipe, funded by Oxfordshire County Council's highways team, will now run under the road allowing water to be pumped out into St George's Field.

Mat Carlile, head of operations at Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "This is really an interim measure to keep the main Botley Road open during flooding.

"It is an alternative to us having to put hoses across the road.

"The pipes were installed in July last year.

"It is about making sure Oxford keeps moving.

"Botley was effectively cut off from the city when we had to close the road after those floods.

"This will mean we can keep the road open and keep traffic flowing."

A hydro-pump will drain water from Bullstake Close, which is connected to the pipes running under Botley Road, which is then deposited into the fields behind Dunelm, in Meadowside Retail Park.

The hydro-pump will be supplied from Banbury Fire and Rescue Service, as it is the only station in the region to have one.

It will then take crews an hour to set and connect the pumps and pipe together before water can begin to be fed through the new system.

Mr Carlile added: "We have also got plans in place for Binsey, South Hinksey and Abingdon Road.

"But this is the only measure of its kind in the area which will transport water underneath the road."

The hydro-pump will pump out 6,000 litres a minute.

Councillor Rodney Rose said: "We have developed the plan having learned from flooding in previous years.  

"In Binsey and South Hinksey we will be using pumps to get the water off the roads and back onto the adjoining land."

The pipes under Botley Road will be used until work is completed on the new 7km channel. 

The new chief exective of the Enironment Agency, Sir James Bevan, exclusively told the Oxford Mail said there was a £27m shortfall for the city's £120m flood alleviation channel which would run from Botley Road to Sandford-on-Thames.