Delivering the government’s agenda for sustainable housing and economic growth will rely almost exclusively on transformative, large scale water infrastructure. In the region served by Anglian Water, we expect our population and economy to boom, increasing by over 700,000 people over the next 20 years. To meet this demand, we’re investing more than £5 billion into building much-needed water and wastewater infrastructure, over the next five years. This includes; developing plans for two new reservoirs, new treatment wetlands, 52 new sustainable drainage schemes and nearly 700km of new pipes. Anglian Water’s Head of Planning and Stakeholder Engagement Angela McCabe, explains why water infrastructure projects must be prioritised during the planning stages if we are to support growth in our region.  

The Government wants to kickstart growth in the economy, with plans to build 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament. In the East of England this includes another 45,000 homes, which is in addition to the number of homes that local councils have already been asked to construct. As ‘growth-enabling infrastructure’, water projects are foundational. They enable the expansion of housing, schools, transport and energy infrastructure that is urgently needed.  

However, to enable the delivery of these projects, we need the planning system to drive greater connection between growth and the capacity of the water infrastructure and network. We need key decision-makers to truly understand the scale of what is needed and the barriers to delivery.  Without decisive improvements to the water and water recycling networks and associated funding, we cannot fully support the Government’s growth ambitions.  

Ensuring delivery isn’t hampered by planning delays 

As both an applicant and a statutory consultee, we have a unique perspective on the planning system. We are not only seeking to build infrastructure, but also, we need to increase the capacity of our networks to accommodate other builds.   

In the last three years we have submitted 92 planning applications, 56% of which have experienced a determination delay of around 60 days. These delays not only interfere with the project timeline but also infringe on wider growth plans for the region. In some cases, such as our Strategic Pipeline Alliance project, the determination was 23 months from initial submission to full discharge of conditions. This project is fundamental in enabling us to begin tackling the challenges of climate change and population growth in our region.  

A way forward 

To supercharge growth, we are asking the Government to amend the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015. We are asking that Water Companies are made a statutory consultee for all planning matters and not just Local Plans. This will allow us to ensure that new developments are in areas that can best support their water and water recycling demand. There are also several short-term wins which will support the delivery of infrastructure now, which includes: 

• • • Manage the planner skills shortage by securing more funding for the planning department and allow for blended funding methods to fund resources linked to projects of strategic importance.
      
      
• Update the permitted development list in Town and Country Planning to reflect the type of infrastructure that is being built now, such as pumping station kiosks. For example, a similar amendment was made in 2022 when the Government increased permitted development rights for electronic communications infrastructure, which supported the effective development of the 5G network.
  
  
• Create a fast-stream category for infrastructure projects being assessed by Local Planning Association to allow applications to be prioritised over domestic applications as housing cannot be built without water infrastructure.  

While these measures will help in the interim, there are other, long-term priority areas that need to be addressed to ensure the water network can keep up with growth plans and associated increase in demand. This includes; accelerating efforts to reduce both household and non-household water consumption, removing the automatic right to connect to already strained sewers through alternate approaches, and more sustainable approaches to abstraction that help balance growth, environmental protection and flood risk management more effectively. 

Fundamentally, alongside planning reform, we need Ofwat to make key changes to ensure its Final Determination of our proposed business plan for the next five years is viable and can attract long-term, quality investment. This is essential to delivering the network upgrades needed to enable both our regional and national growth plans.