Anglian Water to invest millions in Cambridgeshire’s sewerage network

Anglian Water has announced plans to invest almost £500million into Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

As part of the investment, a share of £200,000 will be given to support partnership working with groups in Cambridgeshire to deliver water quality improvements in local areas.

Across the East of England, a record £6.5 billion investment programme has been proposed, which, Angian Water says, is 30 per cent larger than for the last period, and the largest the company has ever brought forward.

Projects in line for funding in Cambridgeshire include £7million for a sewerage system for new homes in Huntingdon, £7million to reduce flooding in county hotspots, £2.7million to connect homes in Buckworth to the sewerage network, and £13.7million to work with farmers to reduce pesticide levels.

Anglian Water has submitted its business plan covering the five-year period from 2020-2025, to its regulator Ofwat.

According to Anglian, the east receives only two thirds of national average rainfall and is among one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. Those factors combined make for a significant challenge around managing water resources for the future.

Chief executive Peter Simpson said: “This is the most ambitious plan we’ve put forward yet with stretching goals that will see us push the frontier in many areas, like leakage, resilience and catchment management, and it’s the biggest investment we’ve ever proposed. We provide an essential public service, so it’s imperative our business responds to customer challenge. Thousands of customers have helped shape the plan – they told us what matters to them most, we’ve taken that on board and created a plan which reflects those priorities.

“The ‘Beast from the East’ and this summer’s heat wave are the kind of extreme weather challenges we’ll see more of in the future as a result of global climate change. The plan we’ve proposed, and the millions of pounds of investment within will tackle these challenges head on to ensure that, despite the likelihood of lower levels of rainfall in the future, there are plentiful supplies of safe, quality water for our growing population.

“Importantly, our plans will deliver this with only a very slight increase in bills- less than 1 per cent over the whole five years with average bills at the end of the period the same as at the start. However, we recognise that for some customers even this miniscule increase is a challenge which is why we’re planning to help on average 475,000 customers every year with one of the most comprehensive support packages in the industry

“Our plan proposes to accommodate all of this, and crucially, it will deliver this while protecting the environment, something that we agree with our customers is of paramount importance. We’re confident it’s the right plan for our customers and our region.