Thames Water SESRO Spring update
Thames Water have provided the following update on the proposed Abingdon reservoir.
Published: 10 April 2025
We have published the latest SESRO (Abingdon reservoir) information and progress update in our Spring booklet, which we are pleased to share with you.
Please see the link to the Spring booklet below: https://dn9cxogfaqr3n.cloudfront.net/2025/SESRO-Spring-2025-Project-Update.pdf
Since the public consultation that we held last year, we’ve been reading all the feedback received and considering how it should inform our draft designs. The Spring booklet provides an update on our evolving plans including information about our masterplan and progress with the various options we showed at consultation.
As you will be aware, once built, the project would secure water for millions, provide new recreational spaces for communities and create a rich, biodiverse landscape. It forms part of our wider plan to meet the water resource challenge, which is a combination of making the most of the water supplies we have and creating new resources.
Environmental surveys update
You may see members of our environmental survey team out in the local area undertaking surveys and investigations. We are now surveying a wider area to understand potential to provide improved habitats for some of the ecology presently on site. You may also see members of our survey team placing monitoring equipment on the highways. Their work is helping us to gather data and information, so we understand more about the types of vehicles and journeys being undertaken locally. We continue to engage with landowners on our survey work and will be writing to landowners with further updates, and where necessary, requests for information to ensure landowner property interests are accurately reflected in our future engagement and plans.
Future engagement
We know the local community have lots of questions and we are planning a series of information events in the early summer, ahead of the school holidays, to give the public the chance to meet the project team and engage on our developing designs. Our next consultation remains on schedule for later this autumn.
In the meantime, I hope you find the attached SESRO update of interest and you can find out more about the project on our website here South East Strategic Reservoir Option (SESRO) – Thames Water Resources Management Plan. https://thames-wrmp.co.uk/projects/sesro/