Water supply issues delay Basingstoke housing plans
Council to carry out further discussions and find solutions
Last updated 21st Mar 2026
Concerns about water supply issues for new homes needed in Basingstoke and Deane in the future, raised by the council, have now been supported by the Environment Agency and Natural England in a consultation on the borough’s draft Local Plan.
The council reviewed the borough’s water infrastructure requirements through a new water cycle study and other supporting research as part of preparing a draft Local Plan, which sets out where new homes, employment spaces and supporting infrastructure will go.
The borough council was forced to plan for an additional 6,000 new homes due to changes in the government’s national planning rules in late 2024.
An update to the water cycle study, published as part of the draft Local Plan consultation that ended in January, identified some concerns. This included important questions about South East Water’s ability to provide a resilient supply of fresh water, for drinking, washing and flushing toilets, to allow for the building of new homes over the next two decades. This is because a South East Water transfer pipeline has not been delivered to the originally planned timetable.
In total over 5,000 representations were received in response to the consultation. The responses from the Environment Agency, Natural England and South East Water reinforced and strengthened the concerns highlighted in the updated water cycle study about water supply.
As a result, the council needs to work closely with South East Water and the water regulators to fully understand what the water supply related issues mean for the borough and the Local Plan.
This important work with relevant bodies, to ensure that suitable strategic infrastructure is in place to support future growth proposals and that the borough’s water environment is protected, will take some time.
Once it understands the scale of the work to resolve the issues, the council’s Cabinet will need to agree a new timetable for the Local Plan.
Infrastructure
Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Cllr Andy Konieczko said: “Our position from the start was that the significant rise in housing numbers imposed on our borough by the government must be supported with adequate strategic and local infrastructure. That’s why we commissioned an update to the water cycle study to ensure that water infrastructure is in place to meet the needs of new development.
“The water cycle study that we commissioned raised questions about future water supply to our borough. The Environment Agency and Natural England have also indicated, through the consultation, that demands for water from growth risks outstripping the limits of sustainable supply, which now needs more detailed investigation.
“Since we took over running of the borough council in May 2023, one of our top priorities has been having an up-to-date Local Plan that will protect our area from speculative development. Despite the government setting us a higher housing target, we’ve succeeded in developing a draft plan that went to public consultation.
“We have been clear in the plan that infrastructure needs to be provided first, reflecting the concerns of residents. This vital additional work gives us a chance to properly address these issues.
“We will do all that we can to find the right and best solution for our borough – we simply cannot progress until we have clear assurances that the homes we are being asked to plan for will have sufficient infrastructure in place to serve them.”
All the responses to the consultation on the draft Local Plan will be published on Monday afternoon (23 March) on the council’s website at [www.basingstoke.gov.uk/dlp-reg18-consultation-2025 ](http://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/dlp-reg18-consultation-2025 |newtab)