Whaley Bridge: Temporary work to fix reservoir dam to start next year

Temporary work to repair a section of a reservoir dam which partially collapsed in the summer will begin next year, the Canal and River Trust has confirmed.

More than 1,500 people were evacuated from Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire, in August over fears the dam would collapse and flood the town.

Residents returned home after emergency services pumped water from the reservoir and shored up the spillway.

Permanent repairs will not begin until 2021 and will take "several years".

However, temporary work will begin on the damaged auxiliary spillway on 6 January.

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The reservoir will remain drained until the permanent repairs have been completed, meaning Toddbrook Reservoir is expected to be out of use until 2022 or 2023.

The charity said the permanent repairs will cost about £10m and it will have to cover the bill itself.

The trust has commissioned an independent inquiry into what caused the damage to the dam wall.

The government has separately ordered a review into the emergency. Both reports are expected to be published early next year.

Evidence of the work to shore up the dam wall in the summer is still visible

Simon Bamford, the trust's asset improvement manager, said: "The intention will be to construct a new spillway or structure of some sort to take extreme storm events.

"We won't know exactly what we are going to do until the outcome of the inquiries."

In the final week before Christmas, weather permitting, the trust will undertake a third fish rescue to net as many of the remaining fish as possible.

This follows two rescues in August and October. It is estimated about 30,000 fish, or five tonnes, have been rehomed.

Residents have been invited to hear about the planned works at two briefings at the Palace Hotel in Buxton on Tuesday night.

Diagrams showing some of the planned temporary work have been released by the Canal & River Trust

Toddbrook Reservoir was at risk of flooding Whaley Bridge when part of the dam collapsed