Cheddar Reservoir
| Cheddar Reservoir | ||
|---|---|---|
Primary inflows inlet from Cheddar Yeo | | |
| Basin countries | United Kingdom | |
| Surface area | 105.4 ha (260 acres) | |
Notification 1972 | | |
| Natural England website | ||
Cheddar Reservoir is an artificial reservoir in Somerset, England, operated by Bristol Water. Dating from the 1930s it has a capacity of 1350 million gallons (6,140,000 cubic metres). The reservoir is supplied with water taken from the Cheddar Yeo river in Cheddar Gorge. The inlet grate for the 54 inches (1.4 m) water pipe that is used to transport the water can be seen immediately upstream from the sensory garden in Cheddar Gorge. It lies to the west of the village of Cheddar and south east of the town of Axbridge. Because of this it is sometimes known as Axbridge Reservoir. It is roughly circular in shape, and surrounded by large earth banks which are grazed by sheep.
History
The reservoir was built by Sir Robert McAlpine and completed in 1937.[1] It was the first British reservoir to permit sailing.[2]
Description
The reservoir has been designated as a
Bird life
The reservoir, which has an area of 105.4 hectares (260 acres), is attractive to waterbirds, in particular wintering
Wildfowl present regularly in winter include
Because of its proximity to the
A moderately sized gull roost has attracted glaucous, Iceland and ring-billed gulls on multiple occasions.[4]
A number of rare and scarce
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Proposals for a second reservoir
Bristol Water has long identified Cheddar as the site for a new reservoir.[5] In 2007 it announced that the new reservoir would be one of the options considered in its Draft 2009 Water Resources Plan.[6] The new reservoir would hold 6,000,000 cubic meters, roughly the same size as the existing reservoir, which it would be based alongside.
In October 2012 survey work started on the new reservoir to the south of the existing one,[7] with a planning application scheduled for December 2013.[8]
In 2018 it was announced that the plans for the second reservoir had been scrapped.[9][10]
References
- ^ "A portrait of achievement" (PDF). Sir Robert McAlpine. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ^ "Cheddar Reservoir Introduction". Bristol Water. Archived from the original on 25 March 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
- ^ English Nature SSSI information for Cheddar Reservoir Archived May 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9552787-0-9.
- ^ "Water Resources Plan" (PDF). Bristol Water. April 2004. p. 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2008.
- ^ "Strategic Environmental Assessment of Bristol Water's Draft Water Resources Plan — Scoping Report" (PDF). Entec. October 2007. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2008.
- ^ "Cheddar reservoir surveying work begins". BBC News. 8 October 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
- ^ "The Project". Bristol Water. Archived from the original on 16 August 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
- ^ "Bristol Water scraps plans for new £100million reservoir". Bristol Live. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ MacMath, Jillian (12 April 2018). "Plans to build new reservoir as part of Cheddar Two project won't go ahead, Bristol Water says". Somerset Live. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
External links
