But the planning and abstraction licencing systems make building reservoirs unnecessarily tricky and expensive. "Farmers need to spend an average of £45,000 to obtain permissions before they can even begin constructing a farm reservoir. "Government must introduce a dedicated permitted development right for farm reservoirs. This means urgent action to bolster our water security and ensuring our food security is treated as a vital part of our nation’s critical infrastructure. “Central to this will be fast tracking investment and planning changes meaning we can build new reservoirs on farm.