Wantage area businesses are calling on local authorities to help relieve the effects of serious flooding on the A417, which councillors say has caused them “to lose thousands” in the past week.

The main road between Wantage and Faringdon has once again been submerged by flooding since last Monday (December 4), preventing access to businesses on the main road and the W&G estate and forcing motorists to utilise a different route between the two destinations.

The severity of flooding caused Thames Travel to suspend its X35 service between Wantage and Faringdon on Monday (December 4), Thursday (December 7) and Saturday (December 9) last week as the water depth repeatedly rendered travel on the main road temporarily impossible.

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Led by the efforts of Ridgeway ward district councillor Dr Paul Barrow, local business owners financially affected due to clients and customers not being able to reach their premises are now taking action against Oxfordshire County Council.

They are calling for assistance to cover loss of earnings and a solution to alleviate or prevent flooding on the main road for good.

They further maintain that since being affected by similar flooding caused by Storm Ciaran last month, nothing has been done to solve the problem.

Emma Barnard, owner of Vale Hydrotherapy at the W&G estate, said: “I’ve now lost two entire days’ work and with more rainfall forecast for this week, I’m worried it’s going to be more.

“Nothing has been done to rectify this and I’ve only had acknowledgement from one party I’ve contacted so far. It’s deeply disappointing and needs to be treated as an emergency.”

Mr Barrow said: “Mellor’s Garage is losing thousands of pounds as are Vale Hydrotherapy as clients can’t get to these places.

"This should have been fixed years ago – its just neglect of maintenance of ditches by landowners and culverts under the road by the county council.

“This has been mentioned in the past but we have to wait for disaster before anything is done and even now nothing can be done, we are told, until the water level goes down for safety reasons.”

In a bid to solve the matter Dr Barrow has spoken with the relevant county councillors, MP David Johnston and Councillor Bethia Thomas, the leader of Vale of White Horse District Council.

Dr Barrow has also asked anyone with ideas or suggestions that could either alleviate or eradicate the persistent flooding to contact him.

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Dr Barrow added: “The Vale and county councils have a plan to sort out the drainage mess, but something needs to be done now.

"It is such a mess. Safety is mentioned frequently but surely a contractor can get in there and start clearing the ditches.”

A spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council said: “There are often issues with high levels of water at this time of year and we are working with landowners and the district council in a collaborative way to improve the situation there. The work includes vegetation cutbacks, de-silting of the brook and ditch clearance.”