Abingdon reservoir: Oxfordshire County Council criticises 'baffling' plans

Plans for a large reservoir could cause "very significant civil unrest", a council has said.

The reservoir between East Hanney and Drayton, near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, could cover seven sq km (4.5 sq miles).

It is part of Thames Water's regional plans to meet future demands for water, and ensure water systems are resilient to climate change.

But in a draft response to a consultation Oxfordshire County Council said it could lead to trouble.

It described the "increasing level of anger and resentment among sections of our local population, which has resulted in destructive and threatening behaviour within Oxford, including some directed at local politicians".

It also said residents' lives would be "blighted by the environmentally destructive" project, calling it "baffling".

Dr Pete Sudbury, member for climate change at the council said the "enormous" project would "cause genuine anger among the people who are there".

He also said there were people across the world "who pick up on stories like this and turn them to their own ends to cause civil unrest".

He said alternatives such as recycling water were "much more resilient to climate change and could be delivered much faster."

The company is seeking planning consent and aims to complete the reservoir by 2040.

The favoured option is for it to be 100 million cubic metres, the equivalent of 40,000 Olympic swimming pools.

But the report written by councillors and officers said the consultation was "deeply flawed" and used "unrealistic and non-evidence-based assumptions about population and climate change".

They said bill-payers were being asked to "sign a blank cheque, with no clear cost-benefit analysis or justification".

Proposals were previously put forward for a reservoir in 2006 but were rejected by the government following a public inquiry.

Campaigners have long held concerns over its scale, construction, and environmental impact.

Leonie Dubois, from Thames Water, which is holding public events to consult residents, said: "Lots of people do want this reservoir.

"We've got a real problem on our hands in that we live in a very water scarce area and we need to make sure we're planning for the future."

Councillors will discuss at next week's cabinet meeting whether to make the draft consultation document their official response.

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