The Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Plant Relocation Project was granted consent by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on April 8 2025.
This Anglian Water Services Ltd project 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. This will result in a new waste water treatment plant for Greater Cambridge, located south of Horningsea to replace the current site on Cowley Road.
The project falls into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) process defined through the Planning Act 2008 (as amended) and was considered under Part 3 Section 29 of the legislation. Responsibility for accepting and examining the NSIP application rested with the Secretary of State and not the local authorities, who were identified as statutory consultees, or ‘host’ authorities, in the NSIP process.
The role of local authorities
Local authorities are identified as statutory consultees, known as 'host' authorities, in the NSIP process. Local authorities have a duty to work with the Examining Authority and provide information about the local area. They do not have decision making powers over the determination of the planning application.
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 worked together as far as possible throughout the NSIP process to ensure full scrutiny of this project took place.
For further details of the NSIP process for this project, please visit the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) website.
Visit Anglian Water's Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Plant Relocation Project website for details of their plans.
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 2024 that the Inspectors' had sent their Recommendation Report to the Secretary of State. The Examining Authority’s recommendation report is only made public once a decision has been made by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State then had 3 months in which to make their decision, or choose to defer the decision. The Secretary of State deferred the decision twice, on October 10 2024 and January 13 2025 having made statements to parliament, in accordance with Section 107(7) of the Planning Act 2008.
Decision
On Tuesday 8 April 2025, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) made the decision to grant consent to the Development Consent Order Application by Anglian Water Limited for the Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Plant Relocation project.
Alongside the decision notice, with a related Judicial Review period of 6 weeks, the Planning Inspectorate's (PINS) recommendation report to the Secretary of State was made publicly available.
More information, including the decision notice and recommendation report, can be found on the Planning Inspectorate’s webpage for this project. Cambridge Waste Water Treatment Plant Relocation - Project information.
