MORETON Town Council has pledged to donate a further £10,000 to help keep a flood defence project above water.

Support from the town council means it will have contributed a total of £30,000 towards the £650,000 Moreton Flood Alleviation Board scheme.

This week councillors were told the on-going project had requested additional funding due to cost overruns.

The request is being made to all three tiers of local authority to the tune of £100,000.

The scheme is due to be completed this year and has the aim of diverting potential flood water away from the catchment area to the south of the town.

In 2007 more than 250 homes in Moreton were flooded, along with the school, when the River Evenlode, a tributary of the Thames, burst its banks and water from the higher ground of Bourton-on-the-Hill flowed into the area.

The latest tranche of the improvement scheme was completed in September last year and involved an £85,000 project of improvements and pipe installation at Stow Brook Bridge.

This work has so far resulted in a reduction of flood risk on the road and surrounding area. However, the main function of the new pipes will be to convey additional storm flows entering the Stow Brook via a planned flood defence pipeline which will run along the rear of the nearby hospital and garden centre.

A spokesman from Cotswold District Council said: "The original design – which was drawn up over three years ago - has changed several times to address concerns from landowners and to satisfy the stringent requirements of the Environment Agency. As a result, additional culverts and other modifications have been added to the proposals. Aside from the cost of these additional works, we have also seen a substantial rise in the price of construction materials and labour since the initial estimates were made."

Funding for the additional money is being split with Cotswold District Council and Gloucestershire County Council agreeing to donated £45,000 each with the remaining ten per cent to come from Moreton Town Council.

A majority vote of four to three at Moreton Town Council agreed to the request during a committee meeting on Monday.

Vice chairman Cllr Michael Lucas said: "I propose the sums proposed with the county and district councils are met and be payable when the project is completed."

The work is expected to be undertaken this summer subject to the related planning application being approved in the near future.