Canal and River Trust update Toodbrook Reservoir restoration timeline as construction enters new phase

The construction of a new spillway to the side of the reservoir is now well underway, which will replace the one on the face of the dam where it almost gave way after excessive rainfall in summer 2019, sparking an evacuation of the town below.

Over the last year, the trust’s contractor, Kier, has excavated the route of the new spillway channel and installed hundreds of piles to support the new flow of water.

Work has now started to line the water channel, which will eventually carry Toddbrook and any reservoir overflow down through the Memorial Park and into the River Goyt. Work has started at the bottom of the new structure by the park and will progress back up towards the top of the reservoir.

Dilwyn Parry, Toddbrook project manager for the Canal & River Trust, said: “Many thanks to residents for their continuing patience. We are now expecting the main reservoir restoration work to be finished by summer 2025.

“This will be followed by demobilisation of the construction site, building the new sailing club and extensive landscaping to return Toddbrook Reservoir and Memorial Park back to public use. The entire project is likely to be finished around autumn 2025.”

He added: “We recognise this is later than hoped for, as set out in our original anticipated construction programme. Prolonged wet weather and difficult ground conditions have both proved challenging. Thankfully future works are mainly above ground, so it may be possible to make up lost time.

“We are expecting the reservoir to refill naturally over the winter of 2025-26 and then hopefully be available again for public sailing, angling and other recreational activities from spring 2026.”

The appearance of the site has been temporarily improved by a new mural on the construction hoardings, painted by the artist Tom Edwards, whose work will permanently decorate the spillway’s turrets once construction is complete.