We’re moving forward with site and route selection

While we prepare for our next public consultation in early 2026, we’ve agreed to keep you updated on key elements of the scheme.​

At our first non-statutory consultation, in autumn 2024, we identified two potential options for connecting to the canal near Atherstone. Option 1 was a route from Coleshill Road across a section of Atherstone Golf Course, to meet the canal outside of the town. Option 2 would continue along Coleshill Road to meet the canal where it crosses the road. ​

We also presented a number of options for the Southern water treatment works and storage. This included three sites we had identified as having greater potential – one near Great Brickhill (Site B), one near Slapton (Site H), and an option that located the storage near Slapton and the water treatment works near Leighton Buzzard (Site H and Site P).​

Since the consultation, we have looked carefully at the feedback we received about these routes and sites. We have also been having further discussions with a range of stakeholders and carrying out engineering and environmental assessment work to inform our plans.​

We can now announce we have identified Option 1 as the preferred route option for near Atherstone, and Site B as the preferred site for the Southern water treatment works and storage. We will be taking both these options forward for further consultation. ​

We know people will want more information, and we are continuing our engineering and environmental work to prepare our proposals for our next consultation where there will be further opportunity for your feedback and comments on our plans. ​

We know these are important decisions, not only for the scheme, but for the local communities involved, and we’ve been directly engaging with landowners, local authorities and parish councils in the areas directly affected. ​

Update

Since our site and route selection announcement, we’ve received queries asking if we considered a pipeline route that would join the canal between Mancetter and Hartshill.

The assessments we’ve carried out since our Phase One Public Consultation included assessing the potential to locate the outfall in this location. We’ve looked carefully at how we could route a pipeline to this location, and this has presented several challenges, most prominently from the presence of disused or active quarries in the area. These present significant engineering risks, through unknown ground conditions, the potential for unknown backfill material to have been used historically, and stability concerns following installation of a new pipeline. Construction activities would also block access to the active quarry. It hasn’t been possible to identify a suitable pipeline route that avoids these areas as well as other constraints, and we therefore don’t believe an outfall in this location is a feasible option.  

We appreciate people will want to understand more about this decision, and we’ll provide further information on how we’ve considered this option in the documents we publish at our Phase Two Public Consultation early next year.

We also know there are outstanding concerns around our proposed Option 1 (via Atherstone Golf Course). Our decision to proceed with this option for further consultation was influenced by the feedback received from Atherstone residents, as we recognise it significantly reduces the potential impacts on Atherstone, when compared with Option Two (that continued down Coleshill Road).  We’ll explain more about how we are planning to manage the potential impacts of our preferred option at our Phase Two Public Consultation, which will be another opportunity to provide feedback and help us identify ways we can further reduce potential impacts from the scheme.

If you have any questions about the scheme, please email: contact@guctransfer.co.uk or register for updates at: www.guctransfer.co.uk/contact-us/.