South East Water has expressed concern that National Grid’s plan for pylons through its land as part of the Richborough Connection Project puts at risk proposals to create a reservoir at Broad Oak near Canterbury which 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. South East Water has 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’.
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 real concerns the alignment of pylons through the proposed route corridor will put at risk our ability to deliver a reservoir at Broad Oak.”
“Unfortunately our suggestions were not fully reflected in both the pre-consultation documentation and in the current Development Consent Order submission.”
“We believe National Grid is committed to ensuring both schemes can be delivered successfully but need to give serious consideration to all the options available.”
Broad Oak Water is an important project which the company set out in its statutory Water Resources Management Plan. Once constructed, the reservoir would help meet the demand for water of those living and working in Canterbury and surrounding areas.
Broad Oak Water could hold between 2,815 and 4,800 million litres of water and deliver an extra supply of between 13.5 and 22.5 million litres of water per day to the area.
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