Renewed efforts by the water companies who make up the Water Resources South East water group to move forward with proposals for a giant reservoir near Abingdon are again facing opposition in Oxfordshire.
Oxfordshire County Council has sent its responses to a series of consultations taking place concerning future water supplies, including the Water Resources South East (WRSE) draft regional plan.
The WRSE plan includes proposals for a reservoir located between Abingdon, East Hanney, Steventon and Marcham, which would hold up to 100 million cubic metres of water – known as the South East Strategic Reservoir Option (SESRO) – as well as other options for securing future water supply.
Councillor Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, said:
“We have consistently opposed this reservoir proposal, which we believe could turn out to be a damaging white elephant that will not be resilient to the kind of multi-year droughts we are seeing in many parts of the world.
“It will arrive too late – climate change is worsening rapidly, and this scheme takes 20 years before it does anything. Putting more than a billion pounds into this project will delay quicker and more reliable schemes, including recycling and transfers from less water-stressed regions, which provide the early, powerful climate resilience we believe is urgently needed.
“The consultation uses outdated figures for population growth and exaggerates water need.
“Securing water supplies for the people of Oxfordshire in the medium to long term is something we as a council will do all we can to help, which is why we organised the recent water summit to look at the issues surrounding it. But building a huge reservoir, damaging the environment and the lives of the people living in this area, is not the answer.”
The SESRO previously appeared in the WRSE emerging regional plan, which Oxfordshire County Council responded to in March 2022. Despite about half of the 1,150 responses indicating direct opposition to it, the giant reservoir proposal was not removed from the draft plan.
The Council has said a similar reservoir proposal was also rejected by the government in 2011 following a public inquiry.
The Council is providing responses to the following water resource plans:
- Water Resources South East (WRSE) draft regional plan consultation1 (this response)
- Water Resources West (WRW) draft regional plan consultation
- Water Resources East (WRE) draft regional plan consultation
- Affinity Water’s draft Water Resource Management Plan 24 (WRMP24) consultation
- Thames Water’s draft Water Resource Management Plan 24 (WRMP24) consultation
Click here to download Oxfordshire County Council's response to the WRSE consultation in full
Click here to download the WRSE consultation document November 2022
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