March 2026

BDBC has recently commissioned a Water Cycle Study and has written the following to PCs:

Dear Chair, Councillors & Clerk,

Re: Government Housing Targets, Water Supply Capacity and the Future of Our Communities

We are writing to you as leader of Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council and Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure to share significant findings that have profound implications for every community across this borough — and to assure you that your Borough Council is taking decisive action. Please see three attached letters.

 

The Evidence Is Clear

Our administration has commissioned JBA Consulting to undertake a comprehensive Water Cycle Study, published in November 2025. Its findings are stark and cannot be ignored. 

The Government’s updated National Planning Policy Framework has imposed a mandatory housing target requiring Basingstoke & Deane to plan for 1,152 new homes every year — a total of over 21,000 dwellings during the Local Plan period to 2042. This represents a 40% uplift on previous targets. The Water Cycle Study supported by an Addendum analysis that we commissioned, has now confirmed, with hard evidence, that the water infrastructure simply cannot sustain this level of growth.

The majority of this planned growth falls within South East Water’s Water Resource Zone encompassing the east of Basingstoke & Deane. South East Water has told us directly and unequivocally that the housing numbers we shared with them are considerably higher than they have factored into their own Water Resources Management Plan. Their exact words are damning: they say they “would not be able to accommodate any level of growth in excess of our current WRMP24 forecast assumptions.” This effectively puts a cap on the amount of development that can take place in our borough. A new strategic transfer pipeline from Surrey Hill service reservoir towards Basingstoke is not expected to be completed until 2033 — meaning the infrastructure gap will remain for nearly a decade.

Furthermore, at a meeting held in October 2025 involving the Council, South East Water and the Environment Agency, it was confirmed that water availability is likely to be a key issue impacting growth in Basingstoke between 2029 and 2034.

 

Our Area is Already Under Serious Water Stress

This is not a future risk — it is a present reality. The Environment Agency has classified Basingstoke & Deane as an area of serious water stress. The Water Cycle Study also found that Basingstoke & Deane is home to globally rare chalk streams — precious ecosystems fed by underground chalk aquifers that provide water for millions of people. These chalk streams are already under pressure from over-abstraction, pollution and development. England is home to 85% of the world’s chalk streams, and many of ours are failing to meet Good Ecological Status under environmental law. Additional housing at the scale the Government is demanding would place these irreplaceable habitats under even greater strain.

 

A Decade of Inaction

For over a decade, the previous administration buried these facts. Thousands of homes were built while they looked the other way, knowing full well that the infrastructure to support such levels of development was never in place. No honest assessment was made, no difficult questions were asked, and the long-term consequences for our communities and environment were never seriously considered.

The storm overflow performance across the borough tells its own story. The Water Cycle Study found that ten out of twelve storm overflows in Basingstoke & Deane are currently operating above the threshold requiring investigation. Six of these are storm tank overflows at Wastewater Treatment Works serving our communities — at Basingstoke, Kingsclere, Overton, Sherfield-on-Loddon, Silchester and Wash Water — with a further four network overflows at wastewater pumping stations also exceeding the threshold. This is the infrastructure legacy of years of unchecked development without the investment to match it.

The facts are on our side. The evidence is in our hands. We’re speaking to the regulators to get them to take this seriously. We want to continue to work closely with our parish council partners and to support you in the work you are doing on this vital issue.

 

A Further Commitment to You

We also want to reaffirm our commitment to localism and to protecting your ability to shape the future of your communities. In response to the Government’s proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework — which threaten to strip further powers away from Parish Councils and abolish Neighbourhood Plans — we are committing £100,000 in the budget to support Parish Councils who wish to update or strengthen their Neighbourhood Plans. Local voices must be heard, and we will do everything in our power to protect them.

We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these matters further, and we would be grateful if you could share these letters with all members of your Parish Council.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Dr Paul Harvey                                                                   Cllr Andy Konieczko     

Leader of the Council                                                                       Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning & Infrastructure

 

March 2026

Please see below the letters from BDBC regarding the proposed government changes to the NPPF, and BDBC's response.