Slaidburn and The Hodder Valley
At the heart of the Forest of Bowland
for the community and available to all
Slaidburn and The Hodder ValleyAt the heart of the Forest of Bowlandfor the community and available to all |
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Slaidburn and Hodder Valley WaterIan A Grindy (United Utilities - Bowland Estates Manager) The water industry has been involved with Slaidburn and the surrounding area since 1910. It was at this time that the first engineers and surveyors arrived to assess the area as a source of drinking water for the Fylde coast and Blackpool. The valley location and abundant rainfall was just what they were looking for, and so construction began on Stocks Reservoir. Situated approx 1 mile north from the centre of Slaidburn, Stocks Reservoir covers an area of 145 hectares (360 acres) making it the largest area of open water in Lancashire. It contains more than 13,000 million litres (3,056 million gallons) of water which nowadays feeds the taps of 500,000 people in parts of Preston, Blackburn, Ribble Valley and the Fylde. The reservoir is now owned by United Utilities, based in Warrington. However, a local team based at the Bowland Estate Office manages the large expanse of water gathering grounds supplying the reservoir - approximately 4,200 hectares (10,500 acres). Take the Bentham road from Slaidburn and the Estate Office is on your right, approximately 1 mile from Slaidburn near the Hodder Water Treatment Works. The best place to view the Reservoir is from the Causeway or School Lane car park in Gisburn Forest. The car park is managed by United Utilities and includes the Vicarage garden picnic area and two bird hides, one of which is designed to specially accommodate people with disabilities. United Utilities is one of the largest landowners in the north west of England. It owns more than 30,000 acres of land in and around the Slaidburn area. Known as the Bowland Estate this land is now subject to a special habitat restoration programme. The Sustainable Catchment Management Programme, better known as SCaMP, aims to restore large areas of upland heath and blanket bog to meet government biodiversity targets by 2010. We are doing this by agreeing special farm plans with our tenant farmers, RSPB, Natural England and other interested parties. The farm plans also include the creation of new areas of upland oakwoods, rushy pasture for wading birds and new upland hay meadows. |
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