Brief meeting report

...and it was a brief meeting, not least because it was on the lake's shore in a few inches of snow at about -3 Celsius so none of us wanted to hang around chatting for too long!

This was a meeting this afternoon between members of the project team and Southern Water who own Testwood Lakes.  We discussed:
Water supply - progress on that front and agreement in principle.  We have some more work to do on finalising that but we have a way forward.
Electrical supply - progress there too and again agreement in principle.  We have established that the existing supply at Testwood Lakes has sufficient capacity to let us take a feed from it.  We need to sort out details of exactly where we tap in and our cabling starts, and agree details like meter reading arrangements, but this is looking very positive.
Waste water - the concern there was to avoid the need for a huge underground sealed tank - very expensive to install and run, and very disruptive to the site to get it installed.  There was also the ongoing risk of leakage into the lake.  Our preferred solution was a grey water system in which the waste is filtered and cleaned and the clean water discharged into a nearby ditch.  We examined the proposed ditch which contains flowing water (despite the freezing conditions).  Following the ditch along, it is clear that it flows through a culvert at the main entrance to the site, then out to the River Blackwater downstream from the site.  On finding this to be the case, again we have agreement in principle to this approach, which is excellent news.
Pontoon - behind the scenes, Sailability and Southern Water have been working with a potential supplier and have a design and approach that should be acceptable to all and meets the needs well.  So this is also looking very positive for Sailability to be able to progress along with us.

So, all in all, a very worthwhile discussion with clear next actions on all fronts.

Meanwhile, there was some interesting birdlife out on the lake, which wasn't actually frozen today despite the cold - Canada Geese and Cormorants among others - this place really is a great backdrop for meetings!