A STUDY released this week by Natural England concludes that it is feasible to re-introduce beavers into England but the report has expressed the need for wide public consultation.

It follows controversy over South West Water's interest in bringing in beavers to improve water quality at Roadford Reservoir, a move which the company says could dramatically cut the cost of water bills.

Around 50 people who own land around the lake expressed their anger at the lack of consultation by the water company at a meeting in Bratton Clovelly Village Hall last week. Many are convinced that re-introducing beavers would cause destruction of the countryside and flooding problems.

The jointly commissioned report by Natural England and the People's Trust for Endangered Species considers the impacts that a beaver re-introduction would might have and the conditions under which a re-introduction could be made.

Its conclusions suggest that it is clearly feasible to re-introduce beavers into England with many consequent benefits, not least the potential for beavers to assist with river and floodplain restoration.

The report says re-introductions have been made successfully elsewhere in Europe and provides valuable evidence on the measures that need to be put in place to deal with any adverse consequences.

But it highlights that consideration of candidate sites needs to be accompanied by a number of actions, including wide public consultation and information, effective monitoring and appropriate management at any candidate site.

South West Water this week said in a statement that it was interested in the potential benefits of re-introducing beavers and was currently consulting stakeholders. However, it would not progress a re-introduction without the broad consensus of local people.

The water company recently arranged a trip to Bavaria so people affected by any potential scheme at Roadford could talk to farmers, landowners and businesses in the German state where beavers have been living since the 1960s.

South West Water claims hundreds of millions of pounds could be saved on upgrading water treatment facilities by introducing beavers, whose dams would act as a natural water purifier. But its environmental manager, Martin Ross, has acknowledged that the concept would be 'a leap of faith'. The company has yet to decide whether or not to apply for a beaver licence from Natural England.

West Devon riparian landowner Chris Durston, who owns nearly 70 acres of land bordering Roadford Reservoir, said: 'One of the biggest issues is that South West Water does not own the land, yet it has not approached all the landowners who would be directly affected by a licensed application, and this has been going on close to six months.'

He said there were around 50 riparian landowners who would be affected, yet only three went on the trip to Bavaria: 'There has been no proper debate. It should have been South West Water who organised last week's meeting, not the landowners.

'It's a very risky strategy and it's something that would not be easy to put back once the genie is out of the bottle.'

Mr Durston said his land was a very natural site which had been left to its own devices for decades, which would change if beavers were brought in.

'We also feel there would be a flood risk from re-introducing beavers because the buildings here lie very low,' he said.

Beavers fell trees but landowners also fear there would be an influx of eco-tourists trampling over private land and that beavers would be out of control.

Local beaver expert Derek Gow said: 'There are many issues with beavers and it would be dangerous to ignore them. But they are manageable and there are significant environmental and economic benefits.'