By Harry Mottram: Despite the drought this year and a hosepipe ban in place West Country Water and Environment (WCWE) have confirmed there’s no fast tracking of building Cheddar Reservoir 2. With the first set of consultations over more are expected before Christmas and into next year. The umbrella group of WCWE which represents South West Water’s plans for Bristol Water to build the new reservoir and a pipeline to Devon said the reservoir won’t be complete and full of water until 2035. The lack of speed comes as no surprise to Axbridge News due to a high level of uncertainty over the potential costs, hikes in interest rates and an increase in inflation from the fall-out of the Iran-USA war and the new Labour Government’s interest in taking control of the water utilities.
Writing for the Local Democracy Service on August 20th, Daniel Mumby wrote: “WCWE said that the new reservoir could not be fast-tracked without vastly changing the current regulatory progress – the ironically-named RAPID, which stands for the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development.”
A spokesperson for WCWE told Daniel: “Recent periods of hot and dry weather underline the importance of investing in long-term water resilience across the region. However, major infrastructure projects such as Cheddar Two must progress through established regulatory, environmental and planning processes to ensure they deliver environmental benefits, protect customers’ interests and represent good value for money. The project continues to move forward through the RAPID gated process and remains an important part of plans to secure future water supplies for the southwest.”
The plan is still to put in planning permission to Somerset and Devon Councils next year with work commencing in 2028 although major building work will continue until 2035 when the reservoir and pipeline are expected to be complete. One of the possible delays for the pipeline to Devon are questions over its necessity, legal issues, costs and the engineering challenges as it is to run under the River Parrett and the Bridgwater to Taunton Canal – plus numerous roads.
Those doubts appear to be reflected in the words of the WCWE spokesperson: “Water companies across the region continue to assess a wide range of supply and demand options through their water resources management plans (WRMPs). These include infrastructure improvements, new water resource options, smart meter roll-outs, leakage reduction and water-efficiency programmes. The timing and delivery of individual schemes are determined through detailed technical, environmental and economic assessment to ensure resilient supplies are maintained while protecting the environment.”
In 2016 Bristol Water abandoned plans to build Cheddar Reservoir 2 due to the huge costs involved – the costs they wanted to pass onto customers – but OFWAT put the kibosh on the project in effect saying Bristol Water’s shareholders should pay for it. Bristol Water is a private company dating back to 1846 created when concerns grew over providing enough water for Bristol as its population grew during the industrial revolution. Chew Valley Lake and Blagdon Lakes were developed after the war while Cheddar Reservoir was built just before WW2 – completed in 1939. In June 2021, the Devon based Pennon Group who own South West Water (mainly Devon and Cornwall) acquired Bristol Water for $563 million.
It is estimated Cheddar Reservoir 2 and the pipeline will cost £750m although some estimates project it running to well over £1bn. The Government have backed the project when Water Minister Emma Hardy visited the Cheddar Reservoir site on March 12, 2025, to confirm that work and funding arrangements were advancing for the construction of Cheddar Reservoir 2. Since then a war has broken out in the Middle East forcing up costs to the wider economy and there’s been a change of Prime Minister. So it comes as no surprise the new reservoir will not be fast-tracked.
Axbridge Diary of Events
Some Axbridge dates coming up. Send Axbridge events to me and I’ll try to keep the list updated. Email: harryfmottram@gmail.com I’ll also post on my website at https://www.harrymottram.co.uk/diary/
Harry Mottram and Axbridge News
Note: I get asked this frequently so just to repeat I write up these stories from time to time out of personal interest – all the information is in the public domain – I put it together, so it makes sense to me. I am not paid – my main job is covering Bath for Bath Voice News and ICSM of Bridgwater which is about business insolvencies. I have lived in Old Church Road for over 25 years and am married to Linda – our four children went to the local state schools. I’ve always taken an interest in local affairs having worked as a journalist in Somerset for many years. More at at www.harrymottram.co.uk and social media on X as @harrythe spiv, Facebook, Blue Sky, LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads and God knows where else!
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