Update – 30 May 2025

The Environment Secretary Steve Reed has directed that Anglian Water’s proposed new reservoir in the Cambridgeshire Fens is a project for which an application for development consent is required since it is considered to be nationally significant.

The direction confirms the project’s planning route through the development consent order process where, given its national significance, consent is granted by the relevant Secretary of State rather than planning permission from the local authority. Our pre-application process is ongoing.

Due to the scale and water supply contribution of the Fens Reservoir, the planning pathway sought for it has always been to submit an application for a Development Consent Order. This announcement from Government is not a change to that approach and the planning pathway for the reservoir. It is simply a formal confirmation of that approach from Government.

As planned, we intend to submit our DCO application for the Fens Reservoir project indicatively in 2027 to ensure we’re best placed to achieve our earliest water in supply date of 2036.

The reservoir will supply around 250,000 homes, with over 87 million litres of drinking water a day, meaning it is critical to securing future water supply for customers who live in the driest part of the UK, and one of the fastest growing. It will also support the government in delivering its 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 reservoir 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.

“This is a great first step in recognising the scale and importance of this major infrastructure build 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.”