We are very grateful to Cllr Antony Harris and Goudhurst Parish Council for highlighting Bewl Water in their recent parish magazine.

It is also very encouraging to see neighbouring parishes working closely together, with Goudhurst now working alongside Wadhurst, Ticehurst and Lamberhurst and also represented within the Friends of Bewl Water group, reflecting a growing shared interest in the future of the site.
The article provides helpful local context and reflects a number of the concerns that have been raised across the surrounding area regarding the future of Bewl Water and its ongoing use for public recreational purposes.
As our work continues, it is encouraging to see awareness building more widely, and the importance of maintaining Bewl Water’s unique character – both for wildlife and as a place for quiet, daytime recreation – clearly recognised.
We have reproduced the article below for information.

Goudhurst Parish Magazine July 2026 Issue.

What’s going on at Bewl Water? Have you been up to Bewl Water lately? Well, it looks much the same, but it isn’t. Slowly and deliberately the largest reservoir in South East England is changing from internationally important wildlife sanctuary and “recreational” leisure resource to make way for potential commercial development. At risk of closing maybe many of the recreational activities we took for granted; sailing, rowing and much else, slowing down or disappearing, potentially making way for commercial holiday lets etc. How may this have come about?

Back in 2007 Southern Water sold a 99-year lease covering all their Bewl Water surrounding land, for under £1m, to Kent & Sussex Attractions Ltd (a Hume-Kendall company) to use the land for “public recreational purposes” > important wording! K&S Attractions Ltd. never filed accounts and was dissolved in 2010. So, what happened to the lease and its obligations etc? It’s a complicated story involving a variety of companies, many dissolved or not apparently listed, some with apparent links to One Warwick Park and Salomons UK (according to their accounts Bewl Water’s hospitality operator) many with surprising levels of debt and negative equity. One may wonder why a water company entered into such a lease when most water utility reservoir owners tend to operate the surrounding lands themselves, or through charitable arrangements, for public benefit.  And so it was that Friends of Bewl Water attended our June parish council meeting with the request that Goudhurst join its neighbouring parishes of Wadhurst, Ticehurst and Lamberhurst to work together to ensure that this unique water facility remains available for “Public recreational purposes” as in the lease and are not put at risk from more lucrative alternatives. Additionally, the “Friends” are pursuing Southern Water for the large amounts of raw sewage put in the reservoir  (770 hours in 2024) with serious implications for users and wildlife.

Information from representing Goudhurst (together with Wadhurst, Ticehurst and Lamberhurst representatives) at a Bewl Water meeting and from published company accounts.

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