Reservoir Plan Dropped

4.19.26pm GMT Tue 3rd Mar 2009

Local councillor Richard Webber has welcomed Thames Water's announcement that it is to postpone plans to build a reservoir near Drayton for at least five years.

The company has also said that the reservoir will only need to be two thirds of its original planned size, if it goes ahead.

"This is great news for the village and demonstrates that the case put forward by the Vale District Council (and local Parish Councils) was both right and effective," said Richard Webber.

The company said that the economic downturn and revisions to population forecasts had led to the change of heart.

In August the Vale District Council challenged the water company's case for the reservoir, in particular its predictions of how much water individuals would use.

Other concerns were that areas of new and continuing research should be completed before a decision was made, and that there might be other supply options.

Local Lib Dem campaigner Neil Fawcett has supported the campaign against the reservoir for ten years.

He said: "I am pleased that Thames Water has agreed that there is too much uncertainty to continue with this plan for at least the time being.

"None of us can know what the situation will be in five years time and there may be yet more reasons as to why this reservoir should not be built.

"We hope Thames Water spends the next five years doing much greater research into the alternatives, as campaigners have been proposing for many years."