Government accepts all recommendations for reform of reservoir safety regime

The government, last week, announced that it has accepted all the recommendations from a 2019 expert report that called for reform in the regime governing the safety of people living and working near to Britain’s reservoirs.

The review by Professor David Balmforth followed the collapse of a dam at Toddbrook reservoir in Derbyshire which almost flooded the town of Whaley Bridge. Balmforth found that the collapse was caused by poor design and a lack of maintenance.

The government said it will carry out reform of the reservoir safety regime and modernisation of the Reservoirs Act 1975. Defra and the Environment Agency will begin a programme of work in summer 2022, with a view to consultation in 2023 to 2024.

It said reforms in 2022/23 and 2023/24, will be made through existing powers, guidance and training, including:

• improving enforcement options and flexibility using civil sanctions;

• introducing review of engineers’ reports by the Environment Agency;

• developing proposals for a proportionate charging scheme to improve recovery of regulatory costs; and

• introducing a free registration scheme for owners of small raised reservoirs during 2022/23.

In 2023/24, a consultation on the modernisation of the Reservoirs Act will look at:

• developing a new risk/hazard classification and how it could operate;

• developing proposals to make the future supply of reservoir engineers more sustainable;

• developing proposals for regulating small raised reservoirs within the new safety regime, for consultation.