Anglian Water New Lincolnshire Reservoir

From: Lincs Reservoir Project Team <info@lincsreservoir.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 8 Sept 2025 at 16:57
Subject: A summary of our Lincolnshire Reservoir briefing on 3 Sep
To: Judy Pittock <helpringhamparishcouncil@gmail.com>
 

Good afternoon 

Thank you for attending our meeting on 3 September.  
It was good to speak with yourself, fellow councillors and members of the public about the current status of the Lincolnshire Reservoir project, and we hope you found the session informative.  
For reference, please see the presentation slides attached here.  

We have also summarised some of the key discussion points from the meeting below:  

• Attendees raised concerns about existing flood risk in the area, and feel the project needs to be more transparent and ambitious with how it approaches the topic. We explained that further work is underway to better understand flood risk around the reservoir site and the way we manage water across the whole scheme. Further detail will be provided at future stages of consultation. We also explained that we’re committed to not worsening existing flood risk as a minimum – but are exploring ways the project could potentially support measures to alleviate flood risk. 
• Attendees felt that we could do more to publicise meetings such as this one, and the project more broadly. We explained that this meeting was originally intended for the Parish Council, though welcome the interest from attending members of the public. We agreed to explore new ways to utilise social media, while also sending printed materials, such as posters, to the Parish Council, so members of the community know how to contact the project team outside of consultation periods, which are advertised widely. We also acknowledge that not everyone can or wants to engage with the project through digital means and explained our approach to making sure everyone can take part in consultation. This includes committing to providing printed materials and in-person meetings, particularly during periods of consultation, where we will write to every address within a 5km radius of the reservoir site.
• Attendees raised concerns about the location of the site, suggesting an area with a natural valley would have been more suitable. We explained that a very detailed site selection process took place, which considered a large number of factors to determine the most suitable site – including the natural material available, and how this could be used to help construct the embankments.
• Attendees were keen to better understand how we would maintain connectivity between villages in the area, in particular, the road between Helpringham and Scredington. We explained that indicative proposals were brought forward during our phase two consultation regarding a diversion of that road. We explained that we’re carrying out further work to explore the interventions needed, including ongoing survey activity which some attendees mentioned. We reiterated our commitment to maintaining connectivity between communities before, during, and after construction. 
• Attendees asked where people working on the site are going to live during construction. We explained that we are not in a position to provide information on this currently, but work is underway and will be presented at future stages of consultation. 
• Attendees also asked about whether the project had plans to support the local community during construction, and whether this was likely to involve any compensatory measures or funding for local projects. We explained that this wasn’t something we could commit to yet but that we’re aware of the desire to see this and are exploring options as we continue our work to develop the project and understand the ways we can manage impacts as best as possible.

Thanks again for your time and continued engagement with the project.

As mentioned, we will continue to keep you informed about the work we’re doing to develop our proposals further, such as the ongoing surveys. We will also continue to keep you updated on our future engagement and consultation plans.    

If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to get in touch via the contact details below.  

Kind regards   

Kelly Linay 
Stakeholder Engagement Lead  

Anglian Water is proposing a new reservoir in Lincolnshire that will secure water supply to our customers for future generations.  

To contact the Lincolnshire Reservoir team, please email us at info@lincsreservoir.co.uk or call our hotline on 0800 915 2491 and leave a message.

For any other enquiries about Anglian Water, please visit www.anglianwater.co.uk/contact-us/.