Two new reservoirs will be pushed through the planning system by overriding local councils, the Government has announced – as ministers warn of an “infrastructure crisis”.
The UK has not built a major reservoir for more than 30 years, with strain on the water network seen as a key factor in stopping the construction of new homes in certain areas.
Ministers blame the current planning regime, which often gives councils a veto over infrastructure which could inconvenience locals but have a positive impact on the country as a whole.
On Thursday, the Government will confirm that two reservoirs, one in Cambridgeshire and one in Lincolnshire, will be built under a new fast-track process with Environment Secretary Steve Reed overseeing the planning application.
They will both be built by private water companies and will be subject to consultation before they are formally approved. The Fens Reservoir, near the towns of Chatteris and March, is expected to be finished in 2036 and the Lincolnshire Reservoir near Sleaford is scheduled to be up and running in 2040.
Another seven are expected to come before 2050, including Havant Thicket reservoir in Hampshire where work has begun.
Water minister Emma Hardy told The i Paper that the projects were crucial despite the long time frame before either is operational. She said: “We have an infrastructure crisis. We haven’t built a new reservoir in 30 years, and if we don’t take these steps, we’re going to run out of drinking water in the middle of the next decade.”
The minister insisted that “seizing control of the planning process” would help ensure the reservoirs were built, with another seven facilities set to open by 2050 under a streamlined legal regime which will be implemented before the next election.
Hardy added: “We’re going to be classifying all reservoirs as nationally significant. And what that means is that the powers, the planning powers, rest in the hands of the secretary of state, rather than the local planning authority.”
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She said that in the shorter term, she was already meeting with water companies and regulators to avoid a negative impact from “the driest spring in 69 years”.
There are no current plans for hosepipe bans this summer, Hardy insisted, but she said it was “important and responsible” to draw up contingency plans for a drought in parts of the country.
A lack of reservoirs is often cited as a reason to reject large-scale housing developments in parts of the country, particularly the South East and East of England, where water shortages can be a problem.
The other reservoirs planned for the coming decades will be in Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Kent, East Sussex, the West Midlands and Somerset.
Victoria Atkins, the Conservatives’ shadow Environment Secretary, said in response to the Government announcement: “Faced with the consequences of their own reckless farming policy and inability to manage immigration, it’s no surprise that Labour has resorted to a hastily timed announcement during recess on water supplies running low.
“The last Conservative government left behind a robust, coherent plan to safeguard food security and reduce net migration by more than half. Labour has chosen to abandon those plans and in doing so, it has surrendered control over both our rural community and our borders.”
Reservoirs look set to be the new frontier in Labour’s battle against Nimbys
By Tom Bawden
Since taking Government last July, Labour has waved through by far the biggest solar farms the UK has ever seen – and indicated it will give the green light to the slew of giant onshore wind farm applications expected in the coming months. All proposals have been met with considerable local opposition.
The Government is now turning its attention to reservoirs, announcing it will make it quicker and easier to build the nine new reservoirs currently proposed by water companies when they make their formal planning applications – starting with one in Lincolnshire and one in Cambridgeshire.
And indications are that while the UK is clearly desperately short of water and in need of new reservoirs (along with significant water saving measures), most, if not all, of these new projects will face similarly stiff opposition.
To begin with, there is the disruption caused by construction of these enormous facilities. They take years to build, involve countless lorryloads of materials and have raised fears that they could put pressure on local housing during peak construction (although it’s too early to say with any certainty whether this will happen).
The construction process is also expected to be a considerable eyesore, although advocates argue that the finished reservoirs can be a haven for nature and water sports which may or may not be an improvement, depending on what they are replacing.
Finally, there are likely to be concerns in at least some cases that the construction process and/or running of the reservoir may pollute groundwater in the area or local waterways, outside of the reservoir.
Little wonder then, that when Lincolnshire Reservoir, to the south of Sleaford, was first floated one farmer said it felt as though “a bomb has gone off in our lives”.
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