Wildlife, bathing water and Lincolnshire reservoir among schemes to benefit from £500 million investment in Lincolnshire by Anglian Water

More than £500million will be invested in the county to back a series of projects over the next five years - from protecting wildlife to improving bathing water.

The controversial Lincolnshire reservoir - to be situated at Scredington, near Billingborough, Donington and Sleaford - is also among the projects which will be funded by Anglian Water.

Between 2025 and 2030, investments will include more than £9million on new treatment wetlands to protect fish and plant life by improving river water quality, and £5.3million to reduce the number of spills to the coast and support ongoing work to ensure residents and visitors to all nine of Lincolnshire’s designated bathing waters will have access to the highest rated bathing water quality.

As the largest county in the Anglian region – with a population of around 770,000 which is expected to increase approximately 12% by 2050 – the investment will also help to facilitate growth in Lincolnshire, including increasing capacity for treating more sewage at several Water Recycling Centres and £190million for the development of the Lincolnshire reservoir, to meet growing demands on water supplies from homes and businesses in the East of England.

This month marks the beginning of the latest five-year business plan for Anglian Water.

This is a pivotal moment for the region as the water company embarks on a programme of work worth £11billion – its largest ever and almost double that of the previous five-year period.

By the end of the decade, Anglian Water will have doubled its investment into the environment, and replaced over 1,000km of water mains.

Mark Thurston, chief executive at Anglian Water, said: “The next five years is a crucial time for the industry as we support and enable economic and housing growth across the UK.

“Neither of these things can happen without significant investment in the right infrastructure – both maintaining existing and creating new assets.

“Critically, how we collaborate with others across the region to deliver this infrastructure at the right time, in the right places is vital to success.”

Richard Tunnicliffe, Regional CBI Director for the East of England said: “The CBI strongly supports Anglian Water's ambitious £11billion investment plan, which is crucial for enabling economic growth and addressing environmental challenges in the East of England.

“This significant investment will not only bolster the economy by creating jobs in all parts of the region but also ensure the East is well-prepared for future population and business growth and prepare the region for an exciting future”

At the heart of the plan is a redoubling of efforts to tackle storm overflow spills with £1billion of funding ploughed into tackling the issue from every angle.

Funds will be spent on increasing capacity to hold stormwater at water recycling sites and across the sewer network by building new infrastructure like storm tanks.

Over the next five years Anglian Water will build nearly seven times as much storm water storage compared to the previous five years – a total of 470,000 metres3 – equivalent to nearly six million baths.

This work will be fast tracked over the next two years and will be bolstered by an extra 200 dedicated staff over the next 12 months.

The company will also be investing £96 million to ‘slow the flow’ to prevent rain and groundwater from getting into sewers to begin with, making spills less likely.

By the end of next year almost 50,000 state-of-the-art AI sewer monitors will be installed across the company’s 76,000km network, meaning issues like blockages can be predicted and prevented before they become an issue. So far, these monitors have prevented over 2,500 blockages in targeted areas.