By Harry Mottram: Six years after it seemed the diggers where about to move in to excavate Cheddar Reservoir 2 in the land between the Clay Pits and the Cheddar Yeo there’s still no sign of work beginning on what will be one of the county’s largest infrastructure projects. Until now.
In the last few weeks contractors have been taking soundings in the land south of the current reservoir ahead of any major work taking place. I made an enquiry to the press office at Bristol Water about Cheddar Reservoir 2 and after a wait Water Supply Optimisation manager Owen Smith got back to me.
Basically, due to the amount of time that has passed since 2018 when it appeared it was all systems go for the new reservoir Bristol Water needed to resurvey and re-evaluate the project in case things have changed.
He wrote: “The work developing the Cheddar 2 proposal is very much ongoing and is being progressed by West Country Water Resources (a combination of Bristol Water, Wessex Water and South West Water). As you can imagine such a significant infrastructure project requires time to collect information and develop proposals, whilst the key principle of increasing the volume of storage to make more water available from our existing resources remains the same, where the water is going and how it is connected into each water company has evolved – so it’s not as simple as just refreshing the previous plans. I appreciate the local community would like to hear more, and further updates will be provided in the coming months.”
Back in 2018 there were several issues that arose, the first being the cost which caused OFWAT to kick out the plans as the bill was essentially being passed on to customers which would have seen an above inflation hike in our water bills. Another issue was acquiring the land as it is all farmland off Hellier’s Lane with the farm at Gypsy Lane submerged along with some other agricultural buildings. There was also the problem of the Clay Pits beloved by anglers which may have to be sacrificed for the project, along with around 100 mature trees and about two miles of hedgerows which are cover for numerous wild animals, birds, flowers, plants and insects. Bristol Water assured the public that new trees would be planted to compensate for the loss and the new reservoir would be designed to encourage a range of wildlife habitats.
The geology of the area will not have changed but at the time of the first enquiry there was a local story of anthrax infected cattle being buried in the fields after the First World War. No evidence was found to support this or the theory there may have been either a Romano British or Early Medieval harbour on the Levels.
Whatever the outcome of the latest plans clearly the decision to proceed with what will be a massive infrastructure project has been taken.
Last year writing in the trade publication Greg Pitcher reported: “South West Water will invest £2.8bn to upgrade a third of water treatment works in Devon and Cornwall, reduce leakage to less than 10%, create a water grid to ensure all strategic reservoirs are connected and invest in large reservoirs starting with Cheddar 2 in Bristol. Water companies have set out plans to almost double their spending on the network during asset management period (AMP) 8, 2025 to 2030. The utilities filed their business plans to regulator Ofwat on Monday 2 October, asking for permission to hike customer bills to allow them to invest a combined £96bn in 2025-30. If approved, these proposals will see a raft of infrastructure projects carried out in AMP8 to improve the reliability of clean water supplies and reduce sewage spills into rivers and seas. Sector body Water UK said utilities had asked for approval to build 10 reservoirs as well to use cutting-edge technology and nature-based solutions to slash wastewater overflows.”
Initially I assumed the delay was due to a change of Government this summer and the ongoing bad publicity over pollution of rivers and the sea by the water utilities of which South West Water was implicated – especially over the Brixham incident which say households having to boil their water. Since 2018 Bristol Water was acquired by South West Water based in Exeter and part of the Pennon Group. The group has plans to expand. Earlier this year they bought Sumisho Osaka Gas Water UK Limited, the holding company of Sutton and East Surrey Water plc (“SES Water”). Now the project is back on the utility’s agenda with South West Water confirming it hopes to have the new reservoir in operation by 2033 – some 95 years after the first one was opened just before WW2.
Axbridge News is edited by Harry Mottram and is published for the interest of himself and fellow residents.
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Email:harryfmottram@gmail.com
Website:www.harrymottram.co.uk
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