SESRO deemed nationally significant as Thames consults on Teddington recycling

Secretary of state Steve Reed has designated the South East Strategic Reservoir Option (SESRO) as nationally significant. This will enable Thames Water and its partner developers to progress planning approval at national level for the 150 billion litre reservoir, which will be situated near Abingdon in Oxfordshire.

Thames anticipates submitting an application for a Development Consent Order in 2026. It is running a series of community engagement events throughout July. 

Ahead of that, on 25-26 June, the High Court will hear a Judicial Review case against the mega reservoir brought by campaigners CPRE Oxfordshire and SAFERWaterS. They argue the reservoir “is completely unnecessary, will devastate local ecology and livelihoods, increase the risk of flooding and squander billpayers’ funds”. SAFERWaterS added: “The secretary of state’s decision to approve Thames Water’s plan without proper scrutiny was irrational.”

However, the news coincided with the driest spring in over 100 years, the threat of widespread drought growing, and the Environment Agency warning that without urgent action, England faces water shortages of 6bn litres each day by 2055.

• Thames Water has launched a statutory consultation on its Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA) project. Interested parties have the ten weeks until 26 August – and ten meeting opportunities – to feed in views about the drought resilience project, which includes water recycling. The scheme could provide up to 75m litres of water each day – enough water for around 500,000 people.