Defra clears canal transfer project for the development consent planning route
The environment secretary has approved a request from the Grand Union Canal (GUC) Transfer project partners for the scheme to be treated as nationally significant infrastructure which can be progressed through the development consent route under the 2008 Planning Act.
Defra has provided a direction that the ‘principle element’ of the scheme will be handled under section 35 of the Planning Act. This will minimise planning and consenting risks for the complex project to transfer water from Coventry to the south east.
The GUC Transfer is being progressed by Affinity Water, Severn Trent Water and the Canal & River Trust. The plan is to divert a portion of the treated recycled water from Severn Trent’s Minworth wastewater recycling plant for additional advanced treatment at a new 115Ml/d plant to be built on the site. A new pumping station and pipeline will then transport the super treated water 20km to Atherstone, where it will join the canal network and make its way on a 131km journey down through the Coventry Canal, the Oxford Canal and on to the Grand Union Canal. The water will then be abstracted, stored in a new 575Ml facility, and pumped to a new water treatment works somewhere in the area between Milton Keynes and the north west of the Chilterns before onward supply to Affinity Water’s customers.
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