It’s been talked about for years, but now there seems to be a concerted effort from South East Water and Canterbury City Council to actually build it.
What do you think about the scheme? A recent exhibition (sadly only one day) was held at Broad Oak Village Hall. If you were not able to attend, we are putting some links here to help you discover the plans and gauge the effect it will have on our area.
On display on a table at the exhibition were three maps that were a suggested layout. South East Water are reluctant to release them, as they are not yet the final proposal. But here are some snaps to give you an idea of the thinking around the scheme.
It is important to point out this is the early stages of the current proposal.
A link to the SEW proposal document from 2016 is here.
(Click on the word here to be taken to a new page)
The most recent appeal for community engagement can be found here
The SEW environment representative pointed out that the option chosen was the smaller of the original two plans for the area. Even so it will store 5 billion litres of water and cover an area of 777,000 sq. metres.
There are concerns for the nearby SSSIs and ancient woodlands, and the ability to put in an effective green corridor has been compromised by the National Grid’s refusal to re-site the pylons installed as part of the Richborough Project. This was a decision taken at government level, and not by the local authorities, incidentally.
Consultation has, of course already begun, and it closes in February 2023, with the final plan delivered in September that year. A link to the consultation form is here
Given the scale of the construction, it will take several years to build and, as we have experienced with the new homes at Broad Oak, we can expect a large amount of local disruption. The full extent will only be known when the detailed plan and schedule are submitted, but the ambition is to have the reservoir finished by 2033. According to SE Water’s published outlines, it would commence April 2025.
The reservoir will be principally filled by water from the Stour, extracted at Pluck’s Gutter and then pumped 15km to Broad Oak. We will lose 2km of the Sarre Penn to the reservoir.
As part of the construction, a water treatment station will be built on the A291 at the bottom Calcott Hill. There are no plans available for what this will involve.
On one of the maps you can see that there are proposals for water sports, a cafeteria and public toilets. How do you feel about this becoming a tourist attraction?
We should take into account that the Sturry Link road (yet to be given the final go-ahead) could happen around the same time. Once the Herne bypass comes into action, we will again see an increase in traffic in our area, so we can expect local travel to be very problematical.
We will update this article as more information becomes available, but we urge people to respond to any body that seeks their comments and let your feelings be known the the Parish Councillors and our City Council representatives.
