Anglian Water Services Ltd is proposing a new waste water treatment plant for Greater Cambridge. The proposal will be determined by the Secretary of State for Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affair. The proposal includes the construction and operation of an Integrated Waste Water Treatment Centre and Sludge Treatment Plant, transfer tunnels, terminal and intermediate pumping stations, vehicle access, utilities connections, renewable energy generation, ancillary buildings and landscaping.
The project falls into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) process defined through the Planning Act 2008 (as amended) and will be considered under Part 3 Section 29 of the legislation. Responsibility for accepting and examining the NSIP application rests with the Secretary of State and not the local authorities, who are identified as statutory consultees, or ‘host’ authorities, in the NSIP process.
There are three ‘host’ authorities (Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council, and Cambridge City Council) involved in this NSIP project. All three ‘host’ planning authorities have undertaken to work together as far as possible to ensure full scrutiny of this project takes place.
Have your say
It is important to note that as the ‘host’ planning authorities are not the determining authorities, any correspondence in relation to this matter needs to be directed to Anglian Water Services Ltd in the first instance and then the Planning Inspectorate. Anglian Water Services Ltd’s website contains further information on the proposal and how to have your say.
For further details of the NSIP process for this project, please visit the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) website.
Examination
The Examination began on 17 October 2023. It closed on 17 April 2024. Throughout the Examination period, Cambridgeshire County Council submitted technical responses as required by the Planning Inspectorate. All submissions made to the Planning Inspectorate have been published online and were made available throughout the Examination period in the Examination Document Library.
We received notification on 12 July that the Inspectors' had sent their Recommendation Report to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State now has a further 3 months to make their decision. The Recommendation Report will not be published until the decision is made.
On 13th August we received notification from the Secretary of State that Anglian Water has submitted a report titled 'Cumulative Impacts Assessment Review', detailing updates to developments which they referred to in their cumulative effects assessment. Interested Parties who registered and made any representations at the Examination have been invited to comment by 23:59 on 10 September 2024.
More information can be found on the Government's webpage for this project.
