NEWS BRIEFING

August 2020 – Latest News from GARD

GARD criticises Water Company groupings studies
on South-East water needs

As we reported earlier in the year, Ofwat and The Environment Agency were not convinced by Water Companies' plans for the resources in the South-east, which include the Abingdon Reservoir,  proposed by Thames Water and Affinity Water, but opposed by GARD and the over whelming majority of local councils. They have responded to water companies’ plans by requiring a major strategic study to inform fresh plans for water resources across the South-East.

GARD pledged to continue fighting these plans and to closely monitor developments during the research period, likely to be the next three years.  The organisation Water Resources South East (WRSE) which represents the interests of the seven South-east region water companies (including Thames Water and Affinity) has now published two 'research' papers on the requirement for future water resources and the resilience to droughts required from the future water system.
These papers were open for public consultation, and GARD has produced responses to each. They can be found on our accompanying webpages at
'Future Water Resource Requirements' ,
and
'In Securing Resilient Water Resources for South East England'.

WRSE have not put forward any new justifications for the water company plans,  just repeated, uncritically, previous work which stacks up the water shortages from various sources (over-estimated population increase, climate change - without allowing for the effect of wetter winters etc) and then builds in 1 in 500 year drought resilience,  further headroom and unjustified 'safety factors' to reach an enormous predicted deficit for the South-east. This (surprise, surprise) requires all the proposed schemes (Reservoir and Water transfers) to satisfy. The Resilient Water Resources, document recycles the TW/Atkins arguments, and does not provide any new analysis. GARD's consultant's critiques are detailed, and, for the Resilience consultation we have done much more work on the (lack of) resilience of the Abingdon reservoir to long droughts. GARD  remains very worried about the train of the argument being used, not only because it gives false justification to building the reservoir, but also because it is a deeply flawed plan for the SE, which will lead to problems of supply in long-running droughts.

We intend to keep up the pressure on the water companies and continue to ensure that government ministers, local MPs, councillors and all other stakeholders are kept well informed.

GARD cancelled AGM due to Corona-virus restrictions

GARD’s AGM, which was due to take place on Tuesday 28 April had to be cancelled because of the Government's Corona virus lock-down restricitions.
The GARD Committee have all agreed to carry on in post. We will be issuing a Chairman's Report and the Audited Annual Accounts to members in September. We hope to hold a 'Q&A' session via Zoom video conference at the end of September/ beginning of October, to keep all informed. Please watch out for details of this in the  local Village Newsletters, or on this website.

March 2020

Abingdon Reservoir

Latest News from GARD

As we reported in January, Ofwat and The Environment Agency have responded to water companies’ plans by requiring a major strategic study to inform fresh plans for water resources across the South-East.  GARD will be closely monitoring developments during the research period, likely to be the next three years.  In the meantime, we will not be ‘putting our feet up’ and waiting for the outcomes of the research.  We intend to keep up the pressure on the water companies and continue to ensure that government ministers, local MPs, councillors and all other stakeholders are kept well informed.
GARD’s executive Committee met in February and agreed a number of actions:

• We will continue to work with local parish and district councils as well as Oxfordshire County Council and encourage them to engage with the consultation process.  Initially, they should all register their interest as stakeholders in the strategic study. Several have already done so, and more have agreed.  We are hoping to bring councils and other interested local parties together so that they can present a united front as stakeholders in the study process. The interests of Oxfordshire residents will be better served if we can act together.
  

• We will continue to press our view that the abandonment of water companies extracting from threatened chalk streams, something which we wholly support, does NOT require the reservoir to be constructed (as is put out in Thames Water and Affinity Water propaganda). In concert with CPRE in Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire we will press for our cheaper, more easily delivered options, using existing reservoirs near London or water transfers from the Midlands to supply the Hertfordshire Chiltern area and take the pressure off the streams.
  

• GARD will  commission an extended study into the issue of flooding in the reservoir area, as we doubt that Thames Water will include such a study as part of their research.  We hope that this will give us detailed information about the risks for each of the surrounding villages as well as South Abingdon.
  

GARD’s AGM will be on Tuesday 28 April at 7:30 pm in the Millennium room, Steventon village hall.  We urge you to attend if you can.  We are also looking to broaden our committee and would particularly welcome interest from villages other than Steventon.  Please contact Deborah Bennett at gard.secretary@gmail.com for further information.

Ofwat publishes 'final' (for now!) view on

Thames Water/Affinity Reservoir plans -

December 2019

Water company plans not yet justified
The 'final view' of the Water Regulator (Ofwat) on the Water Companies' plans for 2019-2024 has been published  (16th December), much delayed because of the General Election. The section of the decisions relating to future water resources can be found at Ofwat Strategic Study

The 'bottom line' is that Ofwat and the Environment Agency (EA) are not yet convinced by the Water Companies' (including Thames Water and Affinity) plans for new water sources in the South-east. In this sense, objectors' voices have made a difference.

The companies must perform a proper 'joined up' study of the water needs of the whole of the South-east region.
Apart from demanding much more effort on Leakage Reduction, Ofwat are insistingthat the companies perform a proper 'joined up' study of the water needs of the whole of the South-east region. They are allowing a period up to the Summer 2023 for this to happen. Whilst this is very good news, it is important to realise that, the mega-Reservoir is still regarded as one possible solution. So, it has not gone away, and remains a threat to our area.

The reservoir must  be properly and transparently judged alongside other schemes.
What this decision means, hopefully, is that the case for the Reservoir will have to be properly and transparently considered alongside other schemes, such as the Severn-Thames water transfer, long advocated as an alternative by GARD. Ofwat have asked for comments by GARD on their proposals over the last few months, and it is encouraging to see that they have listened to some of our representations: in particular they have explicitly asked Thames Water (TW) and Affinity to study other possible solutions, apart from the reservoir, for transferring water from TW to Affinity to help reduce the amount of water extracted from the threatened Chiltern Chalk Streams (readers will remember that this was TW's latest excuse for needing the reservoir in the late 2030s). GARD's submission to Ofwat has been loaded onto their website and  can be seen at GARD submission to Ofwat

Oxfordshire Stakeholders' will be stronger if they act together to oppose the Reservoir plans.
Ofwat's process will allow for Stakeholder comment and participation. This will only be as good as the amount of effort which we, as Stakeholders put into it. In the New Year, GARD will be seeking to get all the local Oxfordshire Stakeholders who object to the Reservoir plans to co-ordinate the transmission of their views to the companies and the regulators. Acting together we will all be stronger. As a hopeful initial sign, Drayton Parish Council and the Oxfordshire branch of Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) have already written to Ofwat asking to be Stakeholders (this has been accepted). We will be lobbying more local councils on this, and hope that all residents will support us. In the meantime, thanks to a generous donation by a local Oxfordshire trust, we will be commissioning a Flooding Risk Study of the Reservoir project.

There is another overwhelming reason why all Stakeholders should apply to join in this process. The allowance which Ofwat has made for this study amounts to over £450M over the next 4-5 years. This money will be raised from customers' bills – so we all have an interest and a duty to see it is spent wisely and not just to rubber-stamp the plans of Private Investors' water companies. The money goes to all the water companies involved in studying the various water resource options for the South-east, but Thames Water and Affinity between them get the largest share (over £260M), so the interests of local residents and consumers need to be protected.

Derek Stork,  
Hon Chairman,
Group Against Reservoir Development 
7th January 2020

September 2019

THE PROPOSED ABINGDON RESERVOIR
AN UPDATE FROM GARD

It may have gone a bit quiet but the
mega reservoir proposal has not gone away!

As reported in July, we are awaiting the decision of the Secretary of State on the Thames Water and Affinity plans. We know that the regulators (Ofwat and the Environment Agency) are not convinced by their proposals. They have asked for a strategic study into water supply for the whole of the South East (including a possible reservoir, but also other schemes advocated by GARD), with completion for decision by 2022.  Recently, the Secretary of State has approved both Severn-Trent’s and South-East Water’s plans.  There has been no pronouncement on Thames Water’s or Affinity’s plans which seems to indicate that all are awaiting the outcome of the strategic study. GARD is urging  that the research process is carefully monitored so that there is no possibility of TW involvement skewing the outcomes towards their preferred option.

As more and more local residents become aware of the reservoir proposal and GARD’s part in campaigning against it, we have received many requests to summarise the case against the reservoir.  We have produced a fact sheet which is available on the documents to download section of the GARD website. Click to view

The key points are:

• The revised plans are for a 150 million cubic metre reservoir, covering more than 4 square miles and with bunded walls 30 metres high.  The 2010 Public Inquiry found that a far smaller proposal was not fit for purpose.  The failings they identified are still present.

• If TW and Affinity achieved leakage targets set by Ofwat, water supplies would be sufficient to the end of the century, without the need for any reservoir.

• The proposed site is the flood plain for Abingdon and surrounding villages.  Much is classified as Flood Zone 3 which, according to Environment Agency guidance, should not be developed.  Recent events at Whaley Bridge, less than 1% of the size of Abingdon reservoir, reinforce safety concerns.  Any breach of the bund walls could lead to widespread flooding throughout the lower Thames Valley.

• Population projections show that Thames Water cannot justify the reservoir based on its own demands.  The partnership with Affinity is an attempt to justify demand.

• Affinity are keen to reduce abstraction from Chalk Streams, a position that GARD supports.  GARD has proposals for how this could be achieved sooner and more cheaply without the need for a reservoir.

• The reservoir would not be resilient in the case of a long drought.

• GARD, and others in the water industry, have suggested a range of alternatives and it is on these that the regulators are now requiring  detailed research.  These include water transfer from the River Severn and further consideration of water re-use and desalinisation schemes.

• The reservoir site is good agricultural land with important wildlife.

July 2019: A different kind of GARD UPDATE

We are still awaiting the decision of the Secretary of State on the Thames Water and Affinity plans. We know that the regulators (Ofwat and the Environment Agency) are not convinced of their proposals. We hear that a strategic study will be made on water supply for the whole of the South East   (including a possible reservoir, but also other schemes advocated by GARD), with completion for decision in 2022. Watch this space.

What’s different about this update? We want to raise awareness about how lucky we are to have this countryside around us.  As well as being good farmland, it has a varied wildlife and flora, and a rich history, all of which will be lost if the reservoir goes ahead. The area is home to a number of Red Listed farmland birds, including Lapwing (see below), Curlew, Grey Partridge, Yellowhammer and Yellow Wagtail. It is the one area of true ‘dark night’ in the Vale, needed by Owls and the insects on which Bats feed. Ten years of arc-lit 24/7 construction site will destroy all that. The reservoir water will be too deep for most wildfowl, and the future site contains no shallow area for wading birds. Alfred the Great is said to have marched his troops on the Great Army Way from Wantage to Abingdon.  Field markings indicate Iron Age, Roman and Saxon remains as yet unexcavated - the Vale of the White Horse, of which this is a part, has a history of occupation back to Neolithic times.  Digging out to a depth of 20 feet will remove every trace of historical remains.

FLOODING  1/3  of the reservoir area, and much of the land to the North, is ZONE 3 flood plain, which planning guidance says should never be developed.  Sealing this over means floodwater will not be able to spread as it currently does. Overleaf you can see the deep channel near Hanney planned to ‘replace’ flood capacity; but half of this channel is already part of Zone 3 and Thames Water have stated that they cannot be sure that they have enough room for flood compensation for their proposal. The reservoir’s effect on the flood risk for surrounding villages is unknown, and it hems in the proposed Abingdon flood relief scheme - already struggling for lack of space.

FACT FILE: THE LAPWING In a 2017 bio-survey of the old Berks & Wilts Canal, there were many lapwings in the area. Numbers in the UK are declining, and it is now on the RSPB  Red List. It is also known as a Peewit in imitation of its display calls, but the name Lapwing describes its wavering flight. Its black and white appearance, round-winged shape in flight and splendid crest make it a very distinctive bird.

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THE RESERVOIR

An artist's impression of the reservoir showing the 4 villages directly affected and the areas of vital flood plain covered by the construction.
Click on the image to enlarge it.

To download the full Newsletter as a PDF click here

Affinity Water's plans for the reservoir.
Deadline 26th April 2019

Affinity Water publish their plan for consultation – partnership on reservoir with Thames Water is 'preferred option'

As we reported last month, Affinity Water published their revised draft Water Resources Management Plan 2019-2024 (known as rdWRMP19) on 1st March. The consultation on this plan runs until 26th April.

As expected, Affinity confirm that their 'preferred plan' is to partner Thames Water in constructing the 'mega-reservoir' next to our villages. They would take an approximately 1/3 share, and the plan proposes to start in 2025, and have the reservoir ready by 2037-8.

Affinity have no better case for needing the water from this reservoir than Thames Water have. By their own admission, they have other possible sources of supply. . These water sources would be available earlier than the reservoir. Affinity have chosen to prefer the reservoir first, for the same cynical reasons as Thames: to build up a huge water surplus in the 2040s and 2050s that they can sell-on by 'transfer' to other water companies in the South-east.  GARD's analysis shows that Affinity's requirements  can be met by very simple and cheap schemes and improving leakage (sounds familiar?), until at least the 2060s.

GARD will be making a very strong objection in response  to Affinity. CPRE Oxon have already come out against this and we hope to co-ordinate our response with local organisations. We urge all residents to make a strong response objecting to this and re-iterating our call for a Public inquiry before this plan is accepted. You can find out about the plan at  https://stakeholder.affinitywater.co.uk/water-resources.aspx  

We should make sure the Oxfordshire voice is heard by this Hertfordshire water company. The local individual objections to Thames Water's plan made up one third of all individual responses sent in. We must try and dominate the Affinity consultation in the same way.

Making your response

If you need information to help in your response, you can find a list of GARD's facts and objections to the Affinity Plan, by clicking here
or to download the full key points in Microsoft Word click here

For a shorter (one page) of key points against the Affinity Plan, to view the short fact-sheet click here.
or to download one page key points in Microsoft Word click here

We have also drafted a letter that can be sent in to the consultation, to view the letter as a PDF click here.
or to download draft letter in Microsoft Word click here

Please send your views directly to the Secretary of State Defra

Email: water.resources@defra.gsi.gov.uk with the subject: Affinity Water draft water resources management plan consultation.

Please copy your email to:

• Affinity Water  at WRMP.Consultation@affinitywater.co.uk
• the Environment Agency at: Water-Company-Plan@environment-agency.gov.uk
• and Ofwat at: wrmp@ofwat.gsi.gov.uk

Or you can post it to
Water Resources Management Plan, Affinity Water Limited, Tamblin Way, Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9EZ

GARD would be grateful if you could please copy your responses to gard.chair@gmail.com , and to local County and District councillors and to our MPs Ed Vaizey and Layla Moran

Report from GARD  - March-April 2019

Affinity Water publish their plan for consultation – partnership on reservoir with Thames Water is 'preferred option'

Affinity Water published their revised draft Water Resources Management Plan 2019-2024 (known as rdWRMP19) on 1st March. The consultation on this plan runs until 26th April.

As expected, Affinity confirm that their 'preferred plan' is to partner Thames Water in constructing the 'mega-reservoir' next to our villages. They would take an approximately 1/3 share, and the plan proposes to start in 2025, and have the reservoir ready by 2037-8.

Affinity have no better case for needing the water from this reservoir than Thames Water have. By their own admission, they have other possible sources of supply (water transfers to their Hertfordshire customers either from the Anglian Water network, or from Severn-Trent Water via the Grand Union canal from the River Trent). These water sources would be available earlier than the reservoir. Affinity have chosen to prefer the reservoir first, for the same cynical reasons as Thames: to build up a huge water surplus in the 2040s and 2050s that they can sell-on by 'transfer' to other water companies in the South-east. The analysis by GARD shows that the requirements of Affinity can be met by very simple and cheap schemes and improving leakage (sounds familiar?), until at least the 2060s.

GARD will be responding to Affinity, and making a very strong objection. CPRE Oxon have already come out against this and we hope to co-ordinate our response with local organisations. We urge all residents to make a strong response objecting to this and re-iterating our call for a Public inquiry before this plan is accepted. You can find out about the plan at  https://stakeholder.affinitywater.co.uk/water-resources.aspx   Affinity have said they are keen to engage with our local concerns and hear them, but so far they have only invited GARD along to the Stakeholders' meeting on 11th April. We hope to press for greater Oxfordshire organisations participation.

We should make sure the Oxfordshire voice is heard by this Hertfordshire water company. The local individual objections to Thames Water's plan made up one third of all individual responses sent in. We must try and dominate the Affinity consultation in the same way. Please copy your responses to me at gard.chair@gmail.com , and to local County and District councillors and to our MP, Ed Vaizey.

Ofwat slam Thames Water and Affinity Water business plans – put them 'in the slow lane' for approval.
As was widely reported in the press, Ofwat, the water regulator, has issued a damaging report on several water companies' business plans and said they are not fit for purpose. Foremost amongst these are Thames Water and Affinity, who have not received approval to proceed. This affects the prospects of the reservoir being approved. Whilst it is not, in itself, something that would lead to the reservoir plans being taken off the agenda, it is a setback, and GARD, and local political groups, should push hard to take advantage of this. Part of Ofwat's criticism is that they do not believe that these two companies have sound enough finances to take on the huge debts of building a huge reservoir project (or any other grand scheme, it seems).

Also, Ofwat have announced that the companies will be given the ability to raise large sums of money (in some cases over £100M) from customers' bills in order to carry out a proper study of the strategic water resource options for the South-east. This includes proper comparisons of reservoirs, water transfers from the west, and desalination plants. Whilst GARD has been pressing for many years that such proper studies should be done (Thames Water have been trying to avoid this ever since losing the 2010 Public Inquiry), we are concerned that the amount of money raised should not be a burden to consumers, should be efficiently and appropriately spent, and should be subject to proper public scrutiny at the end. We are not clear that this is the case, and we have a meeting with Ofwat in London on 3rd April, where we will be asking many questions. We will keep everyone informed.

Act Now to stop the Reservoir Proposal! Thames Water brings proposes to bring reservoir forward by 10 years - construction would begin in 2025 !
- November 2018

Thames have announced that their new plan will propose to bring the Abingdon Reservoir forward to start construction in 2025 (a decade earlier than previously). The size of the reservoir (50% larger than that rejected at the 2010 Public Inquiry) is now more than 50% justified on selling water to other water companies, not just to satisfy London's growth, which Thames have been forced to admit will be less than their original exaggerated figures had proposed. Thames Water are now proposing to make the reservoir a joint project with Affinity Water (which supplies Hertfordshire and parts of Essex and Kent).

CLICK TO READ MORE

Thames Water concede the case for a second public consultation on their plans after pressure from Oxfordshire organisations
- November 2018

On 10th August 2018, Thames Water issued a press statement conceding the case for a second public consultation on their revised draft Water Resources Management Plan 2019-2024 (known as rdWRMP19). They also announced a month's delay until 'end of September' in producing the revised plan, which will be published alongside their response to all the public comments (individual and organisational) which they received in the first consultation which closed at the end of April.

CLICK TO READ MORE

Thames Water Draft Plan (dWRMP19) still fails to justify a reservoir! - GARD is calling for a second consultation on a revised plan
April 2018

Consultation on dWRMP19 closes – GARD's response
The consultation on Thames Water's draft Water Resources Management Plan (dWRMP19) closed at midnight on Sunday 29th April. GARD submitted a robust rebuttal to TW's plan, in a response running to nearly 200 pages. You can read and download our response by HYPERLINK "http://www.abingdonreservoir.org.uk/downloads/GARD response 29.04.2018.pdf" \n _blankclicking this link.Consultation on dWRMP19 closes – GARD's response
The consultation on Thames Water's draft Water Resources Management Plan (dWRMP19) closed at midnight on Sunday 29th April.GARD submitted a robust rebuttal to TW's plan, in a response running to nearly 200 pages. You can read and download our response by clicking this link.

CLICK TO READ MORE



GARD Report shows that proposed reservoir is not resilient against long droughts

August 2017

GARD's consultants have analysed the effect of including the proposed Reservoir into the Thames Water region's water supply system.

We have analysed the performance of the Reservoir in supplying water in the case of simulated droughts (using data from Thames Water's own simulations by their consultants -WS Atkins.
Our report shows that the Reservoir is not resilient and cannot supply the necessary water in the case of long droughts (longer than 17 months) - as such it will not help supply our region in the case of future, more extreme droughts caused by climate change.
Download PDF version