Thames Water reservoir consultation

Vale of White Horse District Council is encouraging its residents to give their views on Thames Water’s proposed reservoir for the district.

Thames Water has launched a public consultation on the proposed reservoir and the public have until 28 August to give their views – available here: https://thames-wrmp.co.uk/sesro

Plans for the controversial reservoir near Abingdon have again been criticised by local communities, with Vale of White Horse District Council urging water providers to consider alternative solutions more seriously. The reservoir is now even bigger than originally planned – at around 6.5 km2 – almost as big as Gatwick Airport and unprecedented in scale.

The council reaffirmed its objections to the reservoir in a formal letter to Thames Water after the water company submitted its revised Draft Water Resources Management Plan to the government.

The council argues that the plans fail to fully consider the long-term impacts to the local community and the environment, both during a decade of construction and the irreparable damage to the countryside.

Any reservoir would also come at the expense of significant carbon emissions which the council argues would impact the district’s ability to become carbon neutral by 2045.