Update – 10 April 2025

In spring 2025, we’re continuing work to develop our proposals for a reservoir in Lincolnshire and will be starting to carry out a range of surveys to help us understand more about the land we could be working on.

This is our second phase of survey works, with the first having taken place in 2023-24. Surveys are required to allow us to gather important information about the area and help us manage potential impacts, as well as informing our design. We would like to reassure you that these survey works are not a sign of construction work starting on the project, we are still developing our proposals in order to submit a planning application to the Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) under the Development Consent Order (DCO) process.

The purpose of the surveys is to help us understand more about any environmental factors within the site that might influence our designs for the reservoir, and how it would be built.

To support our team while they carry out this activity, we will be setting up a temporary works compound on land off Mareham Lane near Scredington. We will be starting work to create the compound this month and expect this to take around four weeks to complete. During this time, we will have lorries delivering materials and new cabins, so we apologise in advance for any inconvenience these large deliveries may cause.

What the surveys involve

Some of the surveys we will be carrying out are non-intrusive and will mainly involve the team walking across various parts of the site of the proposed reservoir and land areas identified for our connecting infrastructure.

In other locations across the main reservoir site, we will also be carrying out ground investigations including boreholes and trial pits. These surveys will help us understand what land and soil factors we need to consider for construction activity, such as archaeology and water quality. Once in place, these ground investigations will be monitored and, where relevant, samples taken.

While any disruption will be low-level, you may see more people present in these areas, or slightly more traffic on the roads. We’ll be carrying out regular road cleans where this leads to more mud on the road.

If you’d like to find out more about the types of surveys we’re carrying out and what these involve, read our handy guide:

Read survey fact sheet

Staying informed

We’re continuing further technical studies and assessments to help us develop our proposals for the Lincolnshire Reservoir. We’re currently planning for future consultations to take place between 2026 and 2027, with our application for development consent planned for submission in late 2028-early 2029. Our target for the reservoir to provide water into supply remains as 2039 at the earliest.

Click here to find out more about our development timeline.

To keep up to date with the project, you can subscribe to our e-newsletter here.

Our project team remain available to answer any questions you may have about the survey work, or anything else you’d like more information on. You can find out how to contact us here.