Chancellor includes Fens reservoir proposal in speech on ambitious plans for Cambridgeshire
The Fens Reservoir was mentioned as part of Chancellor Rachel Reeves plans to deliver the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor that will boost the economy by £78billion by 2035.
Ms Reeves delivered her ambitions for our county in a speech in Oxfordshire yesterday and made promises to turn Cambridgeshire into part of "Europe's Silicon Valley".
She plans to revive the Ox-Cam Arc as the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor, pledging that it could boost the UK economy by £78 billion come 2035.
As part of her announcement the government has agreed to water companies’ water resources management plans, including Cambridge Water’s, unlocking a now-confirmed £7.9bn investment in water resources in the next five years to provide a foundation for growth and improving our water infrastructure.
These plans include nine new reservoirs, including the new Fens Reservoir planned on the outskirts of Chatteris by Anglian Water working alongside Cambridge Water to help meet the growing demands on water supply in the East of England.
The proposed reservoir site lies between Chatteris and March, near Doddington, Wimblington, and Manea.
Anglian Water has developed an emerging design with ideas for the features it might include and has also provisionally identified areas of land to the north and south of the reservoir site that it could need for environmental mitigation measures and/or construction.
Also in her announcement was the prioritisation of a new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital as part of the New Hospitals Programme bringing together Cambridge University, Addenbrookes Hospital and Cancer Research UK.
She said this scheme will improve cancer survival rates by centralising Cambridge University Hospital cancer services under one roof and will further improve the proposition for the life sciences sector in the region, with AstraZeneca and CRUK researchers co-located at the facility, integrating the clinical and research models of cancer services.
In doing so it will help create three new research institutes to be integrated with NHS clinical care helping to provide 10 new clinical trials per year and foster increased collaboration between top scientists and clinicians.
