The Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership has launched a major plan to tackle flood risk and water supply for Lincolnshire.

The LEP brought together over 70 water professionals, business people and academics at the launch of its new Water Management Plan in Louth last week.

Protecting land and property from flooding and ensuring homes, businesses and amenities have enough water are the two key challenges being tackled by the Partnership.

The Water Management Plan, which was given the seal of approval by the Environment Secretary, the Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, in the House of Commons last September, aims to increase investment in three areas: water supply, flood risk reduction and innovative ways of managing water.

The Greater Lincolnshire LEP has developed the Water Management Plan in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders and partner organisations. The LEP is also contributing to the wider Water Resources East (WRE) project, a potential route for integrating appropriate initiatives into the regulatory programmes of the industry.

Commenting on the Plan. Mark Tinsley, a LEP board director and Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire Water Management Board, said:

 “Greater Lincolnshire is a growth area which is planning to create 100,000 new homes and 29,000 new jobs and grow its economy by £8 billion by 2030.”

“My ambition is that we don’t see flooding and water supply as two separate issues but as two sides of the same challenge. This plan is just the beginning; the real task now is whether we can deliver innovative water management projects that meet the needs of our local communities.”

The aim is for Greater Lincolnshire to be seen as a national exemplar for water management, in both flood reduction and water supply, and to act as an incentive for investors in the LEP’s priority sectors. The LEP believes that close collaboration with the neighbouring Humber LEP, Greater Cambridge and Greater Peterborough LEP, and the New Anglia LEP is essential for achieving its aim.

The Water Management Plan:-

• sets out the aims and objectives for water management as a driver for economic growth
• identifies current, emerging and future projects that will secure these aims and objectives
• sets out the water supply challenges for Greater Lincolnshire and the potential construction of major new reservoirs and/ or water distribution infrastructure
• establishes a ‘pipeline’ of potential bids for funding from a range of sources

The plan says that in addition to local small to medium scale projects, some of the interventions which may need to be developed over the next 25 years will require large scale, long term strategic projects. This could include meeting the long term water needs of the area (and neighbouring LEP areas as appropriate) through the construction of major new reservoirs and/or water distribution infrastructure.

The LEP said that such projects will take many years to plan and finance and that, in line with the emerging Water Resources East (WRE) programme, Greater Lincolnshire is keen to explore the potential for shared water resource infrastructure which simultaneously meets the needs of domestic, industrial and agri-food users.

Potential projects could also include defending the coastline in conjunction with neighbouring LEPs and local authorities in the Humber or Wash areas to provide long term security to large areas of coastal land and many thousands of businesses and homes.

The Greater Lincolnshire LEP is now planning to open a dialogue with the National Infrastructure Commission on how major water projects could be supported and will, where appropriate, establish task and finish groups to work with stakeholders to develop larger strategic water projects.

Click here to download the Greater Lincolnshire Water Management Plan