Two Government departments, local planning authorities and the Environment Agency have set out plans to tackle water scarcity in Greater Cambridge – and are calling on Cambridge Water to publish and deliver a Water Resources Management Plan to provide a sustainable, safe, sufficient supply of water to meet all of the planned development in the future across the Cambridge area.

Currently over 9,000 homes and 300,000m2 of commercial space are unable to proceed through the planning system due to concerns raised by the Environment Agency around sustainable water supply to the Cambridge area.

The plans have been set out in a joint statement from The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency and the local planning authorities covered by the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service – Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire Council.

The statement says:

“We recognise that Cambridge’s economic potential is nationally significant. For that reason, there has been a significant and sustained investment from government and local partners focused on enabling sustainable development.

“A sizeable number of sites remain in the planning process (in the current adopted local plans of both councils) because of concerns raised by the Environment Agency around sustainable water supply to the Cambridge area.

“Cambridge Water’s previous draft Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP) was not able to satisfactorily demonstrate that there was enough water to supply all of the new properties contained in the emerging joint Local Plan without risk of deterioration of the local water environment, including chalk streams.”

About 85% of the world’s chalk streams are in the UK. In Cambridge, Cherry Hinton Brook, Hobson’s Brook, River Cam and River Granta are all chalk streams, which support a wide range of diverse wildlife. The chalk aquifer they emerge from, to the southeast of the city, is a main source of water for residents and businesses.

The organisations say that they expect Cambridge Water to publish and deliver a WRMP to provide a sustainable, safe, sufficient supply of water to meet all of the planned development in the future across the Cambridge area.

The statement points out that long-term, and in line with statutory requirements, the water needs of the Greater Cambridge area will need to be met by the water company, saying:

“The water company will need to work closely with other water companies to ensure delivery of major new water resource infrastructure. This includes working with Anglian Water and Affinity Water to develop new transfer of water to Cambridge from Grafham Water, and supporting work from Anglian Water, to develop a new reservoir in the Fens. We are committed to working together to support this longer-term work in our respective roles.

“For those sites where environmental concerns have been raised through the planning process, we must continue to explore how to support sustainable development to come forward. To do this, DLUHC and Defra, working with the Environment Agency and local partners, have made a significant commitment, including major investments in water savings measures to offset water usage associated with new development.”

According to the statement, through the spending of nearly £9 million, the government is making progress on the development of a water credits market, commenting:

“By enabling additional spending (above that already committed by the government), this will supplement, and potentially accelerate, delivery of the water management measures to meet all of the areas future water needs being promoted by Cambridge Water through its WRMP. “

The scheme is intended to provide greater certainty through:

• The delivery of water savings measures in the Cambridge Water operating area, supported by the government’s spending.
• A robust water credit system being in place to assure those water savings and issue credit certificates to developers and housebuilders.
• Application of enforceable planning mechanisms so that planning permissions are linked to water savings measures in a robust way.

The joint statement says that based on the water credits scheme, alongside a published WRMP, the government is confident that "the availability of sustainable water resources need not be an impediment to the consideration of planning permissions for developments envisaged within the adopted local plans.”