Media Release by Anglian Water

Media Release by Anglian Water

Friday 24 July, 2015

A meeting to discourage illegal swimming at Alton Water reservoir following the tragic death of a young local man made good progress this week.

Anglian Water, South Suffolk MP James Cartlidge, Suffolk Police, Fire & Rescue, Highways authority and Tattingstone parish councillors met on Wednesday (22 July) to discuss ways the group could work together to tackle the issue, which is predominantly centred at Lemons Hill Bridge.

County Councillor David Wood said: ”I was pleased that all of the statutory bodies were able to come together to forge a way forward so an incident such as this does not occur again.”

Jake Williams, Head of Recreation for Anglian Water, said: “One family has been devastated by the loss of a young man in our region this summer – we intend to continue working collaboratively with this group to prevent this happening again.

“This week we brought our recommendations to the meeting.Anglian Water has already enlisted the independent health and safety expertise of RoSPA, who we work closely with to ensure best practice at all our recreational water sites. RoSPA will be reviewing the specifics at Alton Water and will make their professional recommendations to the group, which we will then share with the local community.

“We put forward a range of other ways to warn people of the dangers of jumping into reservoirs, and will be changing the bridge signage this season and working with the group partners, such as Fire & Rescue service through its Crucial Crew initiative and Water Awareness Week to get the message out to Suffolk’s young people.”

South Suffolk MP James Cartlidge, said: “I was pleased to be able to attend this week’s meeting in Tattingstone about the recent tragic death on Lemons Hill bridge, Alton Water.

“The priority must, of course, be to ensure that such a tragedy does not happen again, but we also have to give the local community a voice in how we go forward to try and prevent further such incidents. Hence, it was welcome that we had representatives from the police, fire service, Anglian Water and a number of parish councillors, plus County Councillor Dave Wood who chaired.

“With likely hot weather ahead of us potentially tempting more young people to the bridge and water below, it was generally felt that immediate action was required and to this end I hope that Anglian Water can bring forward plans for new signage on the bridge with suitably stark warnings within a month.

“The fact is that people jumping off the bridge may think that the still water below is safe, but we now know that there are serious hidden dangers and this message needs to be communicated with signage, but also with the educational programs that Anglian Water are proposing for local schools.”

Jon Southgate from Suffolk Fire & Rescue Service (SFRS) added: “SFRS is fully committed to raising awareness of the dangers of swimming in areas deemed unsafe, due to unseen hazards which may be dangerous undercurrents or entanglement risks. We will work closely with key stakeholders to reach a collaborative way forward to reduce the risk of further water based tragedy”

More information is available at

For more information contact:Emma Staples, Anglian Water Press Office on 0871 677 0123