Sir, On Tuesday, in Oxford, Thames Water’s proposal to build a huge £1bn Reservoir on approximately 3,500 acres of farmland near Abingdon, came under scrutiny at the start of a public inquiry.

CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) Oxfordshire has for many years strongly opposed the reservoir, believing that Thames Water should concentrate on reducing leakage, improving water conservation and identifying more environmentally sustainable solutions to future water supply.

We believe that the priority is to change the landscape of people’s minds rather than the cherished landscape of Oxfordshire.

Every householder should think about how to use less water and Thames Water must deliver on better management of existing supplies before it pushes ahead with a reservoir which will not benefit the people of Oxfordshire or the local environment.

We agree with the chairman of GARD, the Group against Reservoir Development, who was quoted in The Oxford Times (June 10) as saying: “Thames Water has refused to give local people an adequate justification for the reservoir and we intend to use the inquiry to put it under the spotlight.”

CPRE has for some time been urging the Secretary of State to call an inquiry on the basis that Thames Water’s case to build the reservoir is not proven and such a scheme would have extremely damaging effects on the local landscape and local agriculture.

We shall be participating in the public inquiry and we hope to persuade the Government inspector to conclude that the reservoir is not needed.

Dr Helena Whall, Campaign manager, CPRE Oxfordshire