Lake Vyrnwy deal sparks anger
Severn Trent Water officials have revealed they want to lease the Lake Vyrnwy Estate to a partnership of another water company – United Utilities and the RSPB.
Severn Trent Water officials have revealed they want to lease the Lake Vyrnwy Estate to a partnership of another water company – United Utilities and the RSPB.
The news has angered local people, who had pinned their hopes on former Bala businessman Rhys Jones winning the bid.
And at a public meeting in the lakeside village of Llanwddyn last night, Mr Jones' parents Ian and Eirwen said the family was bitterly disappointed.
Although Severn Trent Water has ownership of the reservoir it is United Utilities which uses the water, taking it via pipes or aqueducts to Liverpool. Severn Trent will retain the reservoir in the lease agreement.
Residents voiced their concerns. Margaret Hughes, whose parents' home was flooded to make way for the reservoir said: "This is our water not theirs'. I'm disgusted. Rhys Jones would have invested in our community.
"My family sacrificed their home because they thought it would give us a better life.
"But in the last 20 years, jobs have gone and the area has lost out."
Severn Trent said it and the preferred bidders would now enter into a three month statutory consultation with Countryside Council for Wales.