Bury St Edmunds to Colchester

We’re building a new 69KM pipeline between Bury St Edmunds and Colchester.

It is the most southernly section of our new drinking water network, which will increase reliability and reduce the number of homes and businesses in the East of England, which currently rely on a single source of water.

It is part of Anglian Water’s Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP) which looks 25 years ahead to manage and secure the water resources by safe-guarding against the potential future impacts of water scarcity, climate change and growth, while protecting the environment.

The new pipelines will also increase reliability of water supply for homes and businesses and reduce risks of drought.

Indicative timetable

Phase of work	Types of activity	Approximate timetable
Planning Application	We submitted our full planning application and Environmental Statement (ES) to the planning authorities along the route in December 2022.	We now have planning permission for the full 69km section of the Bury St Edmunds to Colchester pipeline route.
Enabling works	Works needed prior to the start of construction, such as wildlife protection and limited vegetation removal.	Winter 2023 until spring 2024
Construction	Digging trenches, laying pipes and refilling them once the pipe has been installed.	Spring 2024 to winter 2024
Commissioning	Testing of the pipeline prior to becoming operational	Starting in 2024
Reinstatement	Returning land to its original state where we can and with additional improvements in some areas.	Starting in 2024

Phase of work
Planning Application

Types of activity
We submitted our full planning application and Environmental Statement (ES) to the planning authorities along the route in December 2022.

Approximate timetable
We now have planning permission for the full 69km section of the Bury St Edmunds to Colchester pipeline route.

Phase of work
Enabling works

Types of activity
Works needed prior to the start of construction, such as wildlife protection and limited vegetation removal.

Approximate timetable
Winter 2023 until spring 2024

Phase of work
Construction

Types of activity
Digging trenches, laying pipes and refilling them once the pipe has been installed.

Approximate timetable
Spring 2024 to winter 2024

Phase of work
Commissioning

Types of activity
Testing of the pipeline prior to becoming operational

Approximate timetable
Starting in 2024

Phase of work
Reinstatement

Types of activity
Returning land to its original state where we can and with additional improvements in some areas.

Approximate timetable
Starting in 2024

What is happening now?

We have been granted planning permission by West Suffolk Council, Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council and Colchester City Council. We now have planning permssion for the full 69km section of the Bury St Edmunds to Colchester pipeline route.

We continue to conduct our archaeology excavations onsite. In the coming weeks we will begin enabling works, in preparation for us to start pipelaying in early 2024.

Alongside our pipelaying works, we plan to construct above ground infrastructure at Raydon Water and Rushbrooke Water Treatment Works, Wherstead Water Reservoir, Little Saxham Water Reservoir, Little Whelnetham, Nedging Tye Water Reservoir, Hadleigh Water Reservoir and Great Horkesley.

What has happened before now?

In December 2022, we submitted our full planning application and Environmental Statement (ES) to the planning authorities along the route. You can review our planning application here: Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council, West Suffolk Council and Colchester City Council.

Prior to submitting our planning application, we submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) scoping report in December 2021, asking the local authorities what information should be included within our Environmental Statement (ES).

The EIA is part of the ES process, which is used to help protect the environment by providing local planning authorities and statutory consultees with a detailed evaluation of our proposed route and what effects the pipeline will have on the environment. 

To finalise our pipeline route, we used using feedback and comments collected through our scoping exercise and our online community engagement events (hosted from Monday 20 June until Monday 4 July 2022).

Our work

We will work hard to keep the impact on communities along the route, and the environment, to a minimum.

Construction work will follow good industry practice using tried and tested techniques. The most commonly used method to lay a pipe is the use of open cut trenches. Where we particularly need to minimise disruption, such as by main roads, rivers, significant drainage, water ditches and railways, we will use trenchless techniques.

If you have and questions, please email strategicpipelines@anglianwater.co.uk.

Traffic Management

As with any construction project of this scale, there will be temporary road closures in some areas and a certain amount of disruption. We intend to control this as best as we can by communicating with residents in advance and having timed deliveries and parking on-site for staff and visitors. Please be assured that the project team will be doing all they can to minimise any disruption to you.

Find out about road closures in your area here.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Where are the proposed pipelines going to run?

Full planning permission for the pipeline route has now been granted. To review our route, please visit our planning application on the local planning authority portal: Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council, West Suffolk Council and Colchester City Council.

If you have any queries about our programme or wish to discuss our pipeline route, please email our team at strategicpipelines@anglianwater.co.uk.

Was there a formal consultation process?

A formal consultation exercise has been carried out.

We submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) scoping report in December 2021. Whilst the Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping process primary purpose is to define the scope of the Environmental Impact Assessment, it also provides an opportunity for consultees to review our route and provide initial feedback and concerns.

Taking into consideration the feedback from the scoping exercise, we engaged further with communities through our virtual events from Monday 20 June until Monday 4 July 2022.

Our planning application considered the information gathered in both our scoping exercise and engagement activities and presents the final proposed route for the scheme.  

Through the planning process, individuals, community groups and specific interest groups were able to provide comments and feedback through the public consultation, prior to a decision being made by the local planning authority.

Will there be road closures and distribution?

There will be a limited number of temporary road closures. Road closures are always used as a last resort, when no other suitable, safe traffic management is available. These road closures will be managed to cause the least amount of disruption.

All diversions routes will be verified and approved the County Council’s highways department. Diversions will be clearly signposted, and every effort will be made to keep local residents informed in advance of our scheduled works.

We cannot guarantee no disruption, but we can and will be guided by the Council as to the least disruption to local schools, bus routes, sensitive times, etc.

Access for residents will be maintained throughout. Please look out for the advance warning signs which will be in place prior to the roads closing.

You can keep up to date with all our planned traffic management on the ‘In Your Area’ section on the Anglian Water website, or the One Network website. 

What are Anglian Water doing in terms of habitats for wildlife such as water voles?

We take our impact to the environment and wildlife very seriously in line with our company values - to bring environmental and social prosperity to the region we serve. We have specialist ecologist teams undertaking water vole mitigation works where required under a Natural England licence. We are taking a precautionary approach hence why we are undertaking habitat mitigation at a number of watercourses even where it was not possible to confirm that water voles were present (at the time of the surveys). Water voles are deemed a protected species and as such amendments have been made in terms of the pipeline to try and protect the water voles and their surrounding habitats. Protecting and conserving wildlife is paramount during this project and will be a constant focus throughout.

I’m concerned about hedgerows being removed

Anglian Water will be removing hedgerows within the working width/redline boundary and where practicably possible we will look at reducing that working width during the construction phase.

Our Outline Reinstatement Strategy (ORS) submitted with our planning application, sets out the general principles and approaches Anglian Water will use for the reinstatement of landscape, post construction. All hedgerows damaged or removed during the construction phase, will be replaced in line with the ORS and the submitted landscape plans.

Are hedgerows being reinstated?

Hedgerows will be reinstated following completion of construction works to either the same or greater species composition than prior to removal.

To ensure quality assurance, reinstatement works will be overseen by an Environmental Clerk of Works and input will be provided by suitably qualified landscape ecologist as appropriate.

An establishment aftercare maintenance period of five years is to be undertaken for all new replacement/ mitigation planting. This would include replacement of failed or defective plants that in all aspects shall be the same as the original stock at the time of planting, except that it shall be an additional year older for each year that has elapsed since the original stock was first planted.

On completion of the establishment aftercare maintenance period, Anglian Water will organise handover of reinstated vegetation within the pipeline corridor to the respective landowner.

Has anything been found through the archaeology investigations?

We’ve carried out, and continue to dig and plan, thousands of archaeological investigations in the areas where we’re working. These have opened a window to the past for communities across the region, providing an insight into their heritage – while also helping to enhance our understanding of regional and national development throughout history.

We have made some exciting discoveries: Stone Age tools, Bronze Age burial grounds, Iron Age and Roman settlements including an intact 2,000 year old vase, roads, early medieval (Anglo-Saxon period) artefacts and a medieval burial ground.

We endeavour to preserve as many of the archaeological remains we find as possible, whether through excavating and preserving the remains by record and in archives, or by designing changes to construction to allow the archaeological remains to stay, undisturbed, in their original locations and contexts.

All reports, analysis and the artefacts themselves will be transferred to the local archive facilities (if landowners grant their permission) and will be publicly accessible in due course.

How do I tell you what I think? How can can I raise an issue with you?

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Bury St Edmunds to Colchester

Indicative timetable