Reservoir pipeline

Many thanks for your questions.

The contractors we have appointed to install the new pipeline, Ward & Burke, have a long and successful track record of building pipelines using micro-tunnelling - with around 150kms of pipe installed by them to date. We would work with Ward & Burke and liaise closely with Havant Borough Council, as the local planning authority, to develop a detailed and comprehensive Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) for the new pipeline. This plan would be based on feedback from community representatives, local residents and others on the new route and design, and would be shared with local communities for their further review and input before it’s finalised and approved by the council.

In developing our draft CEMP, we have been liaising with Hampshire County Council Estates team, who look after the Bidbury schools site, to get their input, and we plan to meet with school staff to share and discuss our more detailed draft construction plan in due course. Of course, our planning work takes full account of the schools being relatively nearby to one of our proposed micro-tunnelling access shafts. It’s important to stress that there would be no impact on the schools in terms of traffic disruption or road and footpath closures. We’re planning to put measures in place to mitigate the issue of noise while we’re carrying out work, minimising this as far as possible, in line with our finalised construction plan, as agreed with Havant Borough Council as the Local Planning Authority.

Our overall aim is to ensure everyone’s safety and minimise disruption and inconvenience for local communities, while delivering the reservoir pipelines efficiently and effectively. Before and during construction in particular, we would encourage anyone with questions or concerns about the reservoir pipeline scheme to get in touch with us through our normal Customer Service points of contact. See Contact Us | Portsmouth Water. 

In terms of the specific points you have raised, there are several constraints which prevent us from using the area to the south west of Bedhampton train station for the launch shaft for the micro-tunnelled section of the pipelines concerned – rather than Shaft 2, at the playing fields just north of Fraser Road, being where the tunnelling work would start from.

Firstly, Network Rail would not allow an undertrack crossing to extend so far past their working rail lines due to the risk to their infrastructure. This would be the case if we launched from Bedhampton to the playing fields north of Fraser Road. However, in tunnelling from the playing fields southwards, the undertrack crossing only extends the absolute minimum past the train lines (to the south). In addition, developer Bellway Homes has submitted a planning application for the land at the proposed micro-tunnelling reception shaft location, south of the rail lines at Bedhampton. We have worked closely with Bellway to coordinate our proposed pipeline construction plan and the company’s development plans as far as possible. However, there would not be enough space to construct a launch shaft and operate via it from that location. 

It’s also important to note that having a micro-tunnelling reception shaft, rather than a launch shaft, in the playing fields would result in a similar area being required for the pipelines construction works, compared to having a launch shaft there. The shaft would also need to be in place for a similar length of time.

Turning to the proposed access route for Shaft 2, this would run along the northern and western edges of the Hooks Lane playing fields, vehicles entering a temporary access road we would install from the north eastern corner of the fields near the intersection between Hooks Lane and Hooks Farm Way.

Many thanks for your question.

We are very understanding of the concerns raised by Havant Rugby Club and remain fully committed to finding a solution which works for everyone. 

We have made significant improvements to our pipelines design, to reduce disruption for local people by tunnelling most of the route underground. However, some sections of the route are still likely to be installed using an open cut technique, including across the rugby pitches highlighted. This would involve digging a trench for the pipes to go in, before filling in the trench and reinstating the ground fully. This is to minimise costs, in the interests of value for money for customers, while still delivering it efficiently and effectively, with as little disruption as possible. 

We are looking at ways to minimise the impact on the rugby club, including completing works out of the rugby season and phasing the works to give the pitches chance to recover. 

Members of our reservoir pipelines project team are liaising closely with officials from the rugby club and Havant Borough Council, which owns the playing fields, over the concerns and will continue to do so as our plans develop. 

With best regards.

Many thanks for the comments and queries you have submitted to us via our Havant Thicket Reservoir webpages, as part of our current consultation on new pipelines to transport spring water to and from the reservoir. For completeness, we are providing a response to all of your points / questions in this message.

Trosnant School

Firstly, many apologies that Trosnant School was not marked on our overview consultation map, given that other local schools were. The map in question is designed to provide a higher-level picture of the entire proposed pipelines route, with our consultation leaflet (delivered to 25,000 local properties) and our consultation web-pages signposting the detailed Google Earth-style online map that people can use to view the close-up detail of our plans. This is available via: Pipeline route map (for Nov / Dec 2023 consultation) | Reservoir pipeline | Havant Thicket Reservoir project (engagementhq.com). 

That said, we would like to thank you for pointing out this inadvertent oversight on our part and also reassure you that the presence of the school is very much a guiding factor in shaping our construction plan for the pipelines, with the goal of ensuring everyone’s safety and minimising disruption and inconvenience for the local community, while building the pipeline efficiently and effectively. Please see below for more details on this.

In terms of the redline boundary area you refer to, we will be accessing the micro-tunnelling shaft (some 150 metres west of Stockheath Lane, next to the existing overland sewer pipe) via Stockheath Lane. This will involve installing a temporary construction access road from Stockheath Lane to the works area. It’s envisaged that this would be a corridor no more than 10 metres wide. HGV movements will be restricted at school drop-off and pick-up times, as agreed with the local highways authority. Please also be advised that further details will be available as part of the planning application we will submit to Havant Borough Council next near. The application documents will be published on the council’s planning webpages for people to view and comment on.

Working with you

The contractors we have appointed to install the new pipeline, Ward & Burke, have a long and successful track record of building pipelines using micro-tunnelling - with around 150kms of pipe installed by them to date.

We would work with Ward & Burke and liaise closely with Havant Borough Council, as the local planning authority, to develop a detailed and comprehensive Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) for the new pipeline. 

This plan would be based on feedback from community representatives, local residents and others on the new route and design, and would be shared with local communities for their further review and input before it’s finalised and approved by the council. 

Before and during construction in particular, we would encourage anyone with questions or concerns about the reservoir pipeline scheme to get in touch with us through our normal Customer Service points of contact. See Contact Us | Portsmouth Water. 

Minimising the impact on communities

Under our original reservoir pipeline plan, most of the pipeline would have been installed using an ‘open cut’ method - where engineers would dig down from the road or land, lay a pipe in a trench and then fill in the ground above it. A single pipe would have been put in, to both transport spring water to the reservoir and take it out again when needed.

Under our proposed new plan, two pipes would be installed – one pipe to take water up to the reservoir, and the other to take it out again as required. Micro-tunnelling would be used along half (2.5km) of the total route, to build a concrete tunnel for each pipe to be installed in, with the tunnels constructed next to each other, section by section, without the need to dig a trench for the pipes to go in. 

This approach allows a more direct route to be taken and results in less disruption to local communities compared to the original open cut method that was proposed. Further detail on micro-tunnelling can be found in our reservoir pipelines consultation leaflet which is available via: https://havant-thicket-reservoir.uk.engagementhq.com/15469/widgets/44665/documents/49930. 

Some sections of the pipelines, going via open green spaces, would be installed using the ‘open cut’ method, with both pipes put in the same trench. This is to minimise costs, in the interests of value for money for customers, while keeping disruption and impact on the environment to a minimum.

With best regards.

Many thanks for your question.

Under the original plan, most of the pipeline would have been installed using an ‘open cut’ method - where engineers would dig down from the road or land, lay a pipe in a trench and then fill in the ground above it. A single pipe would have been put in, to both transport spring water to the reservoir and take it out again when needed, with the originally proposed pipeline route following a longer section of the Hermitage Stream compared to our updated plans.

Under the proposed new plan, two pipes would be installed – one pipe to take water up to the reservoir, and the other to take it out again as required. Micro-tunnelling would be used along half (2.5km) of the total route, to build a concrete tunnel for each pipe to be installed in, with the tunnels constructed next to each other, section by section, without the need to dig a trench for the pipes to go in. This approach allows a more direct route to be taken, meaning only a relatively short section of the pipelines route would be next to the Hermitage Stream, something that reduces the impact of the pipelines scheme on the local environment.

Some sections of the pipelines, going via open green spaces, would still be installed using the ‘open cut’ method, with both pipes put in the same trench. This is to minimise costs, in the interests of value for money for customers, while keeping disruption and impact on the environment to a minimum.

Please see the copy of our proposed pipelines route map, where you can view how this updated route (marked with an orange line) compares to what we initially put forward (marked with a red line).