How it will develop

The Grand Union Canal Transfer scheme requires a type of planning permission called a Development Consent Order (DCO), because of the amount of water we’ll be transferring.

The DCO regime is used for large infrastructure projects that are of strategic importance in England, due to their size or specific characteristics. They include road, transport, water, and energy schemes. We’re currently following the pre-application process set out in the Planning Act 2008 and will apply to the government for a DCO for permission to build the scheme. We’re in the early stages of that process and will keep you updated as it progresses and a decision has been made.  The ultimate decision to approve the scheme will be made by central government, however, local consultation plays a really important role in the DCO process.

In September 2024, the parties promoting the scheme submitted a request to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) for a direction that the project should be treated as a development for which development consent is required under the Planning Act 2008.  This request was made pursuant to section 35 of the Planning Act 2008.

In October 2024, following review and consideration of the request, the Secretary of State indicated that they were content to give such a direction.  A signed Direction, including decision rationale, under section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 was issued and is provided here.

On Wednesday 23 April, 2025 the Government announced its intention to further reform the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project application process through the Infrastructure and Planning Bill.   This potentially has implications for the Grand Union Canal Transfer DCO process but we don’t know yet what these might be.  However, the scheme will continue to engage and consult with local communities and stakeholders along the length of its route. We’ll continue to keep everyone updated with the latest developments in our engagement plans on this website.

Listening to and understanding the views of people living and working alongside the Grand Union Canal Transfer is fundamental to how the scheme will be designed, built, and maintained. We carried out our Phase One Public Consultation with local communities, local councils and other stakeholders as part of our non-statutory consultation process in Autumn 2024.

Our Phase Two Public Consultation ran for seven weeks, from the 11 February to Thursday 2 April 2026, and is now closed. The feedback we received will help shape the next stage of development of the scheme. All our materials can be viewed on our Consultation materials page.

You can find more information on the DCO application process here.

The Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID)

As well as the DCO process for gaining planning permission, our proposals are overseen by RAPID. This is a partnership made up of the three water regulators: Ofwat, Environment Agency (EA) and Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI).

RAPID was set up in 2019 in response to the scale of water resource challenges and was formed to help facilitate the development and funding of new, large scale strategic water supply options by the water companies.

They’ve implemented a ‘gated’ regulatory process which includes regular checkpoints to make sure all new strategic water supply options are considered in a fair, transparent and consistent way, ensuring customers’ money is spent wisely.

Scroll down the page to learn about how we are minimising the impact our proposals will have on the environment, as part of our three-stage Environmental Impact Assessment.