Havant Thicket Water Reservoir: Concerns voiced over bridge plans for site

Portsmouth Water has submitted a non-material amendment to Havant Borough Council, seeking to relocate the outlet tower from the embankment to within the reservoir. Additionally, the proposal includes a pedestrian bridge for operational use, connecting the land to the tower.

Ann Buckley, of the Havant Residents’ Alliance, said the plans are “clearly a material change”.

“If agreed it will introduce a bridge and tower which may tempt children to walk out on the bridge across the water and dive or swim from it. The proposal would also greatly change the appearance of the reservoir.

“Normally changes to a planning application would be advertised and members of the public could comment. This change has not been advertised to the public.

“There are many families with children resident in Warren Park who will be living close to the Havant Thicket Reservoir. They have a right to know about this change which may put their children in danger and they should also be able to object to it.”

She added that in the reservoir’s early design stages, Portsmouth Water’s consultants at the time discouraged the use of a valve bridge due to health and safety considerations.

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In response, Bob Taylor, CEO of Portsmouth Water said the company has been “open and honest” about any proposed changes to the reservoir and has discussed the “possibility of a bridge and valve tower with community representatives since July 2023”.

“We always recognised that the design of the reservoir would evolve as the project progressed which is why our original planning application was for an ‘outline’ rather than a ‘detailed’ design.

“The majority of UK reservoirs have valve towers and bridges in the configuration that is now being proposed and while our original design for Havant Thicket Reservoir was, of course, assessed as being safe, we are always looking for ways to make innovations and improvements.

“Moving the outlet tower into the reservoir is preferable from an engineering perspective. This is because it removes the need to include a concrete structure within the central core of the embankment, which improves its safety, further reduces risk, and enhances the design.

“A Non-Material Amendment is not a planning application and does not give us permission to make any changes to the design of the reservoir. We will still need to submit a new application for the bridge and valve tower and look forward to consulting with local residents and community representatives before we do.

“We appreciate there are some concerns about the safety of open water. We have been clear that swimming will not be allowed in the reservoir, and we will work with water safety advisory bodies, other managers of reservoirs and the local communities to make sure we do everything we can to keep everyone safe.”

Residents can view and comment on the plans here.