Residents to discuss new reservoir bid (From The Oxford Times)

Residents to discuss new reservoir bid

9:30am Saturday 11th August 2012 in Oxford

PEOPLE in Wheatley, Horspath and surrounding villages are being invited to discuss Thames Water’s plans to build a new reservoir.

Last month residents in Wheatley said they feared the new reservoir, to serve people in East Oxford, would mean hundreds of lorries passing their homes every week.

Thames Water has submitted the application to South Oxfordshire District Council to build the reservoir, measuring 40 metres by 40 metres, near the existing Horspath reservoir.

It is designed to boost the water supply in the East Oxford area over the next 25 years.

The proposals involve building an additional facility, with a capacity of 6.6 million litres, at the Shotover Hill service reservoir, on the corner of Old Road and Sandy Lane.

A previous consultation meeting took place on June 18, but residents have called for a further meeting and Thames Water managers have agreed that it should go ahead.

It will take place on Tuesday between 3.30pm and 7.30pm at the Merry Bells village hall in Wheatley.

Thames Water’s head of programme delivery Andrew Popple said: “We always try to engage with the local community as much as possible. Expanding Shotover Hill reservoir will enable our local water network to keep pace with the forecast rise in demand caused by predicted population growth for at least the next 25 years.”