Environment Secretary Steve Reed has declared the £5bn Lincolnshire and Fens Reservoir Programme ‘nationally significant’, giving ministers powers to override local planning delays and speed up delivery.

The move marks the first major intervention in UK reservoir construction since the 1990s and is designed to avert future water shortages while unblocking new housing in water-stressed areas.

Anglian Water and Cambridge Water are behind the schemes, which together will supply 253 million litres of water daily – enough for 750,000 homes.

The developments are also seen as critical to freeing up thousands of currently stalled housing plots in Cambridge and North Sussex.

The £5bn programme is expected to go out to tender in January 2027.

The Lincolnshire Reservoir, south of Sleaford, is planned to go live by 2040 with a daily output of 166 million litres. The Fens Reservoir, between Chatteris and March, will provide 87 million litres from 2036.

The reservoirs are the first in a wider national rollout of nine new schemes by 2050, with government pledging to legislate so any future schemes of this scale automatically qualify for fast-track planning.

Water Minister Emma Hardy said: “We are backing the builders, not the blockers. This intervention is in the national interest and will secure water supplies for future generations.”

Ofwat chief executive David Black said the regulator was already backing the programme with £2bn of development funding approved in its 2024 Price Review

Source: Constructio Enquirer

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