New Havant reservoir approved by council amid woodland concerns

Plans for a new £120m reservoir to supply water to 160,000 people has been approved by a council.

Havant Borough Council gave its approval to Portsmouth Water and Southern Water's planned reservoir at Havant Thicket in Hampshire.

They said it would secure "much-needed" water supplies.

The plans were criticised by environmentalists who have said 14 hectares (34.5 acres) of ancient woodland would be lost.

Portsmouth Water, which owns the 160-hectare site, said the reservoir would hold 8,700 million litres and supply up to 21 million litres of water each day.

The mile-long and half-a-mile-wide reservoir would be the first to be built in southern England since the 1970s.

The Woodland Trust previously criticised the plans, saying a "significant area" of ancient woodland - including the part of the Forest of Bere which dates back 1,000 years - could be destroyed.

Campaigners from the Stop the Chop group said the reservoir would not be needed if people were actively encouraged to use less water.

Dielle Hannah said: "If you remove ancient woodland you can't replace it. No mitigation - once it's gone, it's gone and we lose all that biodiversity."

Portsmouth Water said the reservoir was required as it was under pressure to reduce extraction from environmentally-sensitive chalk streams like the River Test and River Itchen.

The utility company's chairman Bob Taylor said the area was chosen because clay needed to waterproof the embankment was present underground at the site so its construction would have a "low carbon footprint".

He said: "We need to do the reduction in leakage, and the improvement in our networks, and use water much more efficiently as well as prevent damage to the environment by preventing over-extraction from places like the Test and the Itchen."

Campaigners opposing a proposed desalination plant in Fawley have argued the Havant Thicket Reservoir would be a more cost-effective back-up for water supplies in a drought.

The reservoir plans were approved by the council's planning committee but also have to go before East Hampshire District Council on 9 June as it spreads over both jurisdictions.