Close to 19,000 new homes are set to be unlocked following a breakthrough by the Water Delivery Taskforce and Anglian Water.
The government’s Water Delivery Taskforce stepped in as Anglian Water had previously objected to several large-scale developments due to concerns over wastewater treatment capacity.
The Taskforce brought together local planning authorities, regulators and Anglian Water to agree a path forward, paving the way for the delivery of 18,771 new homes across East Anglia, Lincolnshire and Home Counties.
The developments that are now closer to being delivered include 3,400 homes at Spitalgate Heath in Grantham, 7,750 homes at Tendring Colchester Borders Gardens Community, 3,200 homes at Baldock in Hertfordshire and 3,700 at Dunton Hills in Essex.
Through the new approach, Anglian Water is working with developers and planning authorities at an earlier stage in the process to enable large-scale developments of over 500 homes, allowing infrastructure upgrades to be funded and delivered in a phased way over multiple investment cycles.
The taskforce has opened up conversations around a potential new water recycling centre for Grantham, as well as the existing construction of a strategic pipeline and a 20 million-litre storage reservoir to allow for thousands more homes in the years ahead.
The government says that the move is key for the East of England, one of the driest regions in the country but with one of the fastest-growing populations and highest potential for growth, and follows previous Taskforce success in North Sussex, where around 21,000 homes have already been unlocked through collaborative work to resolve a four-year pause on development.
The successes for the Water Delivery Taskforce show the potential for strong collaboration and partnership between the government, industry and local communities in accelerating the delivery of new housing and enhancing the UK’s infrastructure.
Environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, said: “This is another success story for the government’s Water Delivery Taskforce, which has already unblocked over 55,000 homes with solutions driven by pragmatic thinking and long-term strategy.”
“We are unlocking growth and getting Britain building while protecting our precious water supplies. Under this government’s reforms, we are securing a brighter future with new homes and new jobs across the country.”
Mark Thurston, chief executive officer at Anglian Water, said: “Given the concentration and scale of growth in the East of England, we are at the forefront of many major infrastructure projects, including two new reservoirs, our Strategic Interconnecting Pipeline, hundreds of miles of modern pipes, water recycling infrastructure and nature-based solutions, such as wetlands.”
“We are working with regulators to chart the path between environmental compliance and supporting growth, and through our work with Defra’s Water Delivery Taskforce, Anglian Water is working with developers and local planning authorities at an earlier stage in the process to enable large-scale developments of over 500 homes. This is an encouraging step forward in enabling us to deliver infrastructure upgrades over multiple investment cycles.”
The Water Delivery Taskforce was established in April 2025 and brings together representatives from Defra and wider government, regulators, water companies and the wider water and planning sectors.
