Environment Minister Steve Reed has given the go-ahead for the £650 million Grand Union Canal Transfer Project being developed by Affinity Water (AFW), Severn Trent Water (STW) and the Canal & River Trust charity to progress to the next stage of the planning process.

Image courtesy GUC Transfer Project Partners

The project is a central component of both the Water Resources in the South East (WRSE) Regional Plan and AfW’s revised draft Water Resources Management Plan 2024 (WRMP24) supplying water resilience for AfW customers in Hertfordshire and North West London.

The scheme is also part of the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development’s (RAPID) programme of Strategic Resource Options (SROs) to help meet the water needs set out in the Environment Agency’s National Framework

A letter sent from Martin Woolhead Deputy Director, Water Sector Delivery at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on behalf of Steve Reed says the Secretary of State has directed under section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 to that the Principal Development, which forms part of the Grand Union Canal Transfer Project, be treated as development for which development consent is required under the Planning Act 2008.

The letter asks water companies and the trust to now engage with the Planning Inspectorate to provide the necessary details of the proposed scheme so that a project page can be set up on its National Infrastructure website.

The Grand Union Canal Transfer (GUCT) will now be designated as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure project, following the submission of the Section 35 request in Spring 2024, to be consented via a Development Consent Order (DCO) application, under the Planning Act (2008).

This means that a consultation report will be produced, summarising the project’s approach to stakeholder engagement and consultation, and outlining how the project has complied with pre-application consultation requirements.

The project application will be examined by the Planning Inspectorate, who will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to determine whether the project should be granted Development Consent. The Secretary of State will take this final decision as to whether to grant the scheme Development Consent.

The Project will transfer surplus water from ST’s supply area via up to 131km length of canal across up to

ten local authority areas to areas of water deficit in AfW’s supply area. From a new Advanced Water

Treatment Plant (AWTP) to the East of Birmingham, a new pipeline and existing canals will convey a

source of raw water which will then be abstracted, stored and treated in Bedfordshire or Buckinghamshire,

prior to its distribution to AfW customers.

The Transfer Project, which is a significant infrastructure scheme of substantial size and complexity, involves extensive and large-scale water supply infrastructure and pipelines, including modification and

the introduction of new infrastructure adjacent to and within the canal network.

The scheme will interface with multiple land interests, designations, sites of ecological, landscape and historic interest and other major infrastructure, stretching across multiple local authority and decision-making boundaries and requiring an extensive range of consents, power, licences and permits, whilst potentially having a range of temporary and permanent effects.

Consideration of the GCUT through the DCO consenting route and determined in accordance with the Water Resources Infrastructure NPS is intended to minimise and manage planning and consenting risks that could otherwise result in significant potential delays to the consenting of the Project.

If the scheme is given Development Consent, the Grand Union Canal Transfer is expected to be up and running by 2032.