Report raps ‘intermittent’ upkeep

MISSION Chinook drops ballast

BAD design and decades of poor maintenance caused a dam to fail and thousands of people to flee their homes.

A section of the wall at the 50-year-old Toddbrook Reservoir collapsed last August, leading to fears that millions of gallons of water were about to flood the Derbyshire town of Whaley Bridge beneath it.

More than 1,500 residents had to leave their homes as emergency services, the RAF and volunteers worked around the clock to avert catastrophe.

Yesterday the Government published an independent report into the disaster.

It slammed lax maintenance of a spillway built in the 1960s by British Waterways, whose role was taken over in 2012 by the Canal and River Trust.

The report, authored by Professor David Balmforth, says: “It has not been possible to say whether it was the poor design or the intermittent maintenance that was the primary cause of failure on the day.”

The CRT said it was “happy” with how the structure was built but conceded maintenance of the spillway “might have been more stringent” during some periods.

It added that work to permanently rebuild the structure will start in 2021, when temporary repairs are finished.

The £10million project will continue until 2023 at least. Sir James Bevan, CEO of the Environment Agency, said it would implement all the 22 recommendations in Professor Balmforth’s 89-page report.

High Peak MP Robert Largan said: “I want to make certain this is more than just a repair job. We need to take this opportunity to make improvements for the whole community, such as potentially installing a circular path round the reservoir and looking at a hydroelectric generator.”

ROBERT LARGAN MP FOR THE HIGH PEAK CONSTITUENCY

I want to make certain this is more than just a repair job. We need improvements