Today, the Environment Secretary Steve Reed has directed that Anglian Water’s proposed new reservoirs in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire are projects for which development consent is required since they are considered to be nationally significant. 
 
The direction confirms the projects’ planning route through development consent order process where, given their national significance, consent is granted by the relevant Secretary of State rather than planning permission from the local authority. 
  
Together the reservoirs will supply around 750,000 homes, with over 200million litres of drinking water a day, meaning they are critical to securing future water supply for customers who live in the driest part of the UK, and one of the fastest growing.  They will also support the government in delivering their nationally significant growth proposals for the Cambridge region. 
 
Director of Strategic Asset Management, Sian Thomas from Anglian Water said: 
  
“Supporting economic growth sits at the core of Anglian Water’s mission and purpose to deliver a prosperous region and UK economy. 
 
“Our vision for the reservoirs goes beyond simply creating a new public water supply. This is a significant investment in England’s water infrastructure and a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver lasting benefits for people, place and the environment. Not only will the reservoirs be critical in keeping taps running, but they also mean more water can be left in some of the region’s most environmentally sensitive habitats, by reducing the need for abstraction. 
  
“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.  
  
“We have shared these recommendations with Ofwat and welcome the focus of the Task Force for Water and the Cunliffe Commission’s review of the regulatory landscape to go further and faster to improve the nation’s water infrastructure.” 
 
The East of England is one of the most water scarce regions in the UK, and Anglian Water has a long history of investing in securing and maintaining water supplies in preparation for the significant future challenges of climate change and population growth.  
 
Alongside developing plans for these two new reservoirs, the water company has constructed the UK’s first regional water grid to secure water supplies and protect the environment from over abstraction.  In the next five years, its business plan, worth £11bn, will see this regional grid extended further and all of its 2million customers fitted with smart meters, both of which will be completed by the end of the decade, will increase resilience to drought even further. 

This level of investment is set to increases further over the coming decades as the water company plans further transformative infrastructure to keep pace with the growing region, allowing it to thrive.