As nationally significant projects, the reservoirs planned for Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire will go through the process of applying to the Planning Inspectorate for a development consent order, which will then need to be signed off by the relevant secretary of state.
Thus they avoid the local authority planning regime.
Bizarrely, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs headlined this news as ‘Government steps in to build first major reservoirs in 30 years’.
The government will not be building these reservoirs and Portsmouth Water is already building Havant Thicket Reservoir in Hampshire.
Anglian Water is proposing to build the Lincolnshire Reservoir to the south of Sleaford, aiming to be operational by 2040. It has also partnered with Cambridge Water to propose the Fens Reservoir, between the towns of Chatteris and March, set to be completed in 2036.
The Lincolnshire Reservoir would provide up to 166 million litres of water per day for up to 500,000 homes. The Fens 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.
Anglian Water director of strategic asset management Sian Thomas said: “This is a great first step in recognising the scale and importance of these major infrastructure builds but it will require even further innovation and change in regulation to deliver major infrastructure on the scale needed for the UK – for example, developing appropriate infrastructure financing, funding, and procurement models, further reviewing planning reform, and achieving greater regulatory alignment.
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