Environment Secretary Steve Reed has seized control of the planning process to build two major reservoirs for the first time since the 1990s in a bid to speed up the process.
This forms part of the government’s commitment to fast-track the delivery of nine new reservoirs, supporting its plans to get Britain building and deliver 1.5 million new homes by the end of this parliament, Reed said in a statement on Thursday (29 May).
Without these projects, national water supplies will remain under threat, and new homes simply cannot be built, he said.
As part of the process, two new reservoir projects in East Anglia and Lincolnshire have been awarded the status of ‘nationally significant’. This means the project is so crucial that the planning process is escalated from a local level to the Secretary of State. Government said that this should 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.
Rapid population growth, crumbling infrastructure that has been left to decline, and a warming climate mean the UK could run out of clean drinking water by the middle of the next decade without a major infrastructure overhaul.
To sustain the country’s water supply into the future, the government will also legislate to radically streamline the planning process, meaning the ‘nationally significant’ designation is automatic for projects like these, which are fundamental to our national water resilience.
Warning of Summer drought
The plan to speed up development comes after the Environment Agency urged water companies to do more to safeguard water supplies after the driest start to spring in 69 years.
While no area is currently officially in drought, there is a medium risk of one this summer without sustained rainfall, the group warned in the first week of May.
“The changing climate means we will see more summer droughts in the coming decades,” said Richard Thompson (Environment Agency Deputy Director of Water). “The last two years were some of the wettest on record for England, but drier conditions at the start of this year mean a drought is a possibility, and we need to be prepared.
“It’s heartening to see more people looking to reduce their water use, and we expect water companies to do more to cut leakage and roll out smart meters.”
Whilst there are currently no plans for hosepipe bans, if the prolonged dry weather continues, water companies may need to implement their dry weather plans in the weeks and months ahead, the Environment Agency said.
Planned water reservoirs
Reservoirs, which collect and store water, are essential to keep water supply reliable and consistent even during dry weather, but no new reservoirs have been delivered since 1992, over 30 years ago.
Thousands of much-needed homes in Cambridge and North Sussex are currently being blocked due to concerns around water scarcity.
Anglian Water are proposing to build the Lincolnshire Reservoir to the south of Sleaford, aiming to be operational by 2040. It has partnered with Cambridge Water to propose the Fens Reservoir, located 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 – that is the equivalent of more than 664 million cups of tea day. The Fens would supply a much-needed 87 million litres to 250,000 homes in the driest region of the UK.
Both projects will now progress to the consultation phase, where developers gather views from communities and stakeholders.
Water companies have committed to bringing nine new reservoirs online by 2050, in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Kent, East Sussex and the West Midlands and Somerset. These reservoirs alone have the potential to provide 670 million litres of extra water per day.
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