The government has announced plans build new reservoirs for the first time in 30 years.
Environment secretary Steve Reed has “seized control of the planning process” to build two reservoirs for the first time since the 1990s, in a move that also delivered on the government’s commitment to fast-track the delivery of nine new reservoirs, Defra said.
The reservoirs would bolster water supplies and enable the building of new homes, it added.
Two new reservoir projects in East Anglia and Lincolnshire have been awarded status of ‘nationally significant’, which means the project has been escalated from a local level to the secretary of state.
“We are backing the builders not the blockers, intervening in the national interest and slashing red tape to make the planning process faster to unblock nine new reservoirs,” said water minister Emma Hardy.
This milestone promises to streamline and accelerate the planning process, to shore up water resources for over three quarters of a million homes in England’s most water-stressed areas.
The government has also said it woukld legislate to streamline the planning process – meaning the ‘nationally significant’ designation is automatic for projects like these, which it said were fundamental to national water resilience.
Anglian Water is proposing to build the Lincolnshire Reservoir to the south of Sleaford, aiming to be operational by 2040 and providing up to 166 million litres of water per day for up to 500,000 homes.
It has also partnered with Cambridge Water to propose the Fens Reservoir, located between the towns of Chatteris and March, set to be completed in 2036. This would supply 87 million litres to 250,000 homes in the driest region of the UK.
Both projects will now progress to consultation phase, where developers gather views from communities and stakeholders.
“We welcome the clear focus the government is placing upon accelerating the delivery of supply and resilience schemes that will meet our future water needs and support economic growth,” said David Black, chief executive of Ofwat. ”Alongside the £2bn of development funding announced at our 2024 Price Review, this will help us to deliver the largest programme of major water infrastructure projects – including nine new reservoirs – seen in decades.”
It comes as grower groups have called for better investment in water storage infrastructure following the driest spring since 1956.
Jack Ward, chairman of the British Growers Association, explained that growers were having to irrigate earlier than expected, which was driving up production costs and “eats into what are normally finite supplies of water”.
“The overwhelming conclusion is that we need to be better prepared for a more volatile climate, and we need to improve the resilience of our domestic food production systems,” he added.
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