Council submits response to Thames Water reservoir consultation

Published 23 August 2024

Vale of White Horse District Council has today (Friday 23 August) submitted its consultation response on Thames Water’s proposed reservoir for the district.

Thames Water launched a public consultation in June on the proposed reservoir and the public have until 28 August to give their views.

Plans for the controversial reservoir near Abingdon have 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.

View the council’s consultation response here.

The council also reaffirmed its objections to the reservoir in a formal letter to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 25 July. The letter set out the council’s concerns around the proposed reservoir and requested a meeting to discuss the matter further.

Cllr Bethia Thomas, Leader of Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “We’ve provided our feedback as part of this latest Thames Water process, and we will continue to represent our residents and urge water providers, regulators and government to listen to local voices and reject these plans. Residents have until 28 August to take part in the consultation, so I encourage everyone to look at the plans and have a say.

“In July I also wrote to the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to express our concerns. I hope to arrange a meeting to set out why we firmly believe the need for the reservoir has not been established and call for the whole process to be paused to give proper consideration to other options.”

The council has argued 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.

Cllr Andy Cooke, Vale of White Horse District Council’s Water Champion, said: “Thames Water have still failed to make a plausible case for the damaging, disruptive and pointless giant mega-reservoir rather than implementing the National Infrastructure Commission’s recommendations for water transfers and a National Water Grid.  We remain vehemently opposed to this multibillion-pound white-elephant.”