Anglian Water has confirmed the proposed location for a new £1 billion - plus reservoir in Cambridgeshire and announced the launch of the first phase of a public consultation.

The reservoir is being developed in partnership with Cambridge Water and a formal public consultation period will begin on Wednesday 12 October.

The proposed location is in the Cambridgeshire Fens situated north of Chatteris near the villages of Doddington and Wimblington.

The reservoir will supply enough water for around a quarter of a million homes, as well as protecting the environment by enabling a reduction in the amount of water taken from rivers and underground aquifers elsewhere in the region.

The project forms part of both Anglian’s and Cambridge Water’s long term Water Resources Management Plans and is linked to the wider regional plans led by Water Resources East.

After detailed work between Anglian Water working in partnership with Cambridge Water, the findings of a detailed site selection study will be shared as part of the consultation.

Anglian Water outlined initial estimated costs for the Fens Reservoir, which will be delivered under the RAPID programme, in its Strategic Solution Gate One Submission: Preliminary Feasibility Assessment published in July 2021.

Initial overall estimated capital costs for the scheme for the multisectoral design and the baseline design respectively were approximately £1,527 million and £1,207 million.

Dr Geoff Darch, Water Resources Strategy Manager for Anglian Water said:

“Following a thorough and multi-stage site selection process, assessing a wide range of criteria, we have now identified the best performing location for a new reservoir.

“We know the effect these plans might have on those impacted by our proposals including homeowners, landowners and the nearby community because we’ve already been speaking to those in the immediate area. We wanted to give them the opportunity to ask us any questions about what this might mean for them, before publicising the information more widely. We are committed to working with everyone as the project develops and want to hear all views on our emerging proposals.

“A formal consultation process will begin on 12 October, open for 10 weeks, and we encourage communities and wider stakeholders to have their say and to help shape the development of the design of the reservoir and inform the economic, social, and environmental opportunities it could create for the local area.”

Together with a panel of expert partners, the two water companies have been undertaking a wide range of assessments to identify potential locations for the reservoir. That includes considering impacts on people and communities, the needs of the environment, landscape, existing water sources, engineering requirements, flood protection and many other factors.

The initial consultation will run from 12 October until the 21 December. As part of the consultation a very early concept design for the reservoir has been provided to help stimulate thought and discussion. It shows some of the potential features they hope to include in the reservoir like wildlife areas, recreation and water sports, green infrastructure like cycleways and renewable energy, and others. This will be developed further as the project progresses taking account of feedback from the consultation.