South East Water has expressed concern that a plan by National Grid to run pylons through its land as part of the Richborough Connection Project will put at risk proposals to create a reservoir at Broad Oak near Canterbury - the reservoir would secure the area’s future water supplies.
The water company has been working with National Grid since 2013, trying to ensure both important utility projects can be realised.
Lee Dance, Head of Water Resources at South East Water, said:
“The proposal which National Grid has put forward crosses the ‘footprint’ of the Broad Oak Water site.”
“We do have some concerns the alignment of pylons through the proposed route corridor could put at risk our ability to deliver a reservoir at Broad Oak.”
“As a result we have made a number of suggestions to National Grid which would ensure the future delivery of both projects, including laying one kilometre of electricity cable underground where it would cross the Broad Oak Water ‘footprint’.
“Unfortunately it seems these suggestions have not been fully reflected in both the pre-consultation documentation and this current Development Consent Order submission.
“We believe National Grid is committed to ensuring both schemes can be delivered successfully but we would encourage them to give more consideration to all the options available.”
Broad Oak Water is an important project for South East Water which the company set out in its statutory Water Resources Management Plan.
South East Water’s current proposal shows that Broad Oak Water would hold approximately 3,800 million litres of water, supplying (at peak times) at least 13.5 million litres of extra water to the surrounding area each day. This will help the company meet the growing demand for water from both existing and new customers.
Over the past year the company has been moving forward with its reservoir plans carrying out environmental surveys in and around the proposed Broad Oak Water area.
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