Guidance

Joint statement on addressing water scarcity in Greater Cambridge

Published 6 March 2024

Applies to England

1. This is a joint statement from Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency and Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service (the local planning authority for Cambridge).

2. We are all committed to supporting the growth of Greater Cambridge in a way that is sustainable, supports the economic potential of the area, protects and enhances the quality of life for residents, habitats and the environment.

3. We recognise that Cambridge’s economic potential is nationally significant. For that reason, there has been a significant and sustained investment from government and local partners focused on enabling sustainable development.

4. A sizeable number of sites remain in the planning process (in the current adopted local plans of both councils) because of concerns raised by the Environment Agency around sustainable water supply to the Cambridge area. Cambridge Water’s previous draft Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP) was not able to satisfactorily demonstrate that there was enough water to supply all of the new properties contained in the emerging joint Local Plan without risk of deterioration of the local water environment, including chalk streams.

5. Long-term, and in line with statutory requirements, the water needs of the Greater Cambridge area will need to be met by the water company. We expect Cambridge Water to publish and deliver a WRMP to provide a sustainable, safe, sufficient supply of water to meet all of the planned development in the future across the Cambridge area. The water company will need to work closely with other water companies to ensure delivery of major new water resource infrastructure. This includes working with Anglian Water and Affinity Water to develop new transfer of water to Cambridge from Grafham Water, and supporting work from Anglian Water, to develop a new reservoir in the Fens. We are committed to working together to support this longer-term work in our respective roles.

6. For those sites where environmental concerns have been raised through the planning process, we must continue to explore how to support sustainable development to come forward.  To do this, DLUHC and Defra, working with the Environment Agency and local partners, have made a significant commitment, including major investments in water savings measures to offset water usage associated with new development.

7. Through the spending of nearly £9 million, the government is making progress on the development of a water credits market. By enabling additional spending (above that already committed by the government), this will supplement, and potentially accelerate, delivery of the water management measures to meet all of the areas future water needs being promoted by Cambridge Water through its WRMP. The scheme is currently being designed and will be tested shortly, together with a launch of a wider communications to allow the people and businesses of Cambridge to use water wisely and help protect the environment. The scheme will be operational for as long as it is required.

8. The scheme will bring direct benefits for those living and working in the Greater Cambridge area, who will be able to access free water saving devices such as new shower heads and taps.

9. Modelling undertaken by DLUHC demonstrates that the scheme should deliver water savings that are sufficient to address concerns raised around sustainable water supply to the Cambridge area. Ongoing monitoring, undertaken with partners including the Environment Agency, will aim to ensure the savings are realised to an agreed timeline.

10. There is now an emerging understanding amongst all partners of the impact of these important schemes, the potential water savings to be generated through government’s additional spending, and the proposals still to be refined and tested alongside the WRMP. The government is confident, based on the scheme set out below, alongside a published WRMP, that the availability of sustainable water resources need not be an impediment to the consideration of planning permissions for developments envisaged within the adopted local plans.

11. The scheme is intended to provide greater certainty through:

a. The delivery of water savings measures in the Cambridge Water operating area, supported by the government’s spending.
b. A robust water credit system being in place to assure those water savings and issue credit certificates to developers and housebuilders.
c. Application of enforceable planning mechanisms so that planning permissions are linked to water savings measures in a robust way.

12. Alongside these measures, the Written Ministerial Statement in December encourages local planning authorities to work with the Environment Agency and delivery partners to agree tighter water efficiency standards for new development where water scarcity is inhibiting the granting of planning permission for homes. We acknowledge that this is a flexibility of which the local planning authorities, covered by the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning service, can make use alongside the introduction of the water credits system.

13. The Environment Agency has a duty, under the Water Framework Directive Regulations, to review schemes, having regard to the detail of specific proposals, to determine whether there is sufficient assurance around the impact of development on waterbodies.

14. The same duty applies to the local planning authority, and it will also remain their role to determine planning applications in the normal way, taking account of representations from the Environment Agency. This statement does not seek to pre-judge those decisions, which will need to be made taking into account all relevant planning considerations, not just those concerning sustainable water supply, but seeks to provide a degree of certainty around the actions to deal with these issues, and to demonstrate our joint commitment to continuing to develop a workable, effective way of unblocking planning applications and delivering sustainable water resources.

15. Where planning applications are called in, or appeals recovered for ministers to decide, those decisions will be made in line with published propriety guidance on planning casework decisions.