Anglian Water announces multi-million-pound projects for Northamptonshire

Anglian Water will today put the wheels in motion on almost half a billion pounds of investment for the coming financial year

The water company says it is prioritising investment in areas which customers said matter most to them.

Views were gathered during the company’s biggest ever public consultation, which shaped its overarching £5bn business plan to 2020.

These include tackling leaks, investment to ensure resilient water and water recycling services, to protect customers and the environment from severe weather such as drought and flooding; and commitments to tackle the impacts of climate change.

The projects, which will cost a total of £444m over the next 12 months, include a £2.4m investment in sludge and combined heat and power plants in Corby, Great Billing, Colchester, Cambridge and King’s Lynn, to ensure renewable energy supplies are resilient and efficient.

Other projects include £30m to keep leakage levels at industry-leading lows, £24m maintaining, refurbishing and replacing parts of the 37,000km water pipe network, £15m for jetting and cleaning sewers to keep them clear of fatbergs and wipes, £12m to connect hundreds more rural homes to the mains sewerage network for the first time, about £10m – rising to £30m over the next three years – to adopt and refurbish private pumping stations that will become the firm’s responsibility in 2017, £8m to reduce flooding from sewers, £1m to match-fund flood schemes in collaboration with partner agencies, such as local authorities and the Environment Agency, and millions of pounds on the ‘nuts and bolts’ of Anglian Water’s operations, such as repairing and replacing manhole covers.

This investment will be paid for by bills of just £1.12 per day, or £411 per year on average – which is still lower than they were three years ago following price cuts in 2015.

Customers who have use a water meter continue to pay even less, with the average bill at £378, or just over one pound per day.

Projects will be starting right across the region from this week, delivered by Anglian Water and its supply chain partners.

The partners only recover costs and earn profit when they outperform Anglian Water’s business plan objectives, which ensures the costs of running the business are kept as low as possible, which keeps customers bills down.