BUILDING new infrastructure must not mean wrecking ecosystems, campaigners warned today following the government’s announcement that new reservoirs are to be built for the first time in 30 years.

The government announced that it had “seized control of the planning process” with the aim of having two major reservoirs constructed, in East Anglia and Lincolnshire. 

Labour said they would provide water for 750,000 homes in some of the driest areas of Britain.

Ministers vowed to “fast-track” the building of nine reservoirs in total, which water firms have pledged to deliver by 2050. 

This will also support plans to boost housing supply, the government said.

Water Minister Emma Hardy said the government was “backing the builders not the blockers” and “slashing red tape” to speed up the process. 

But River Action chief executive James Wallace warned that “infrastructure must not bulldoze ecosystems.”

He said: “We cannot solve one environmental crisis by deepening another.

“Planning reforms, like the proposed and controversial Planning and Infrastructure Bill, must not prioritise fast-tracked development over habitats.

“The environment is not a bureaucratic nuisance. It is the foundation of resilience.”

Mr Wallace added that reservoirs alone won’t solve water supply problems and the government must “confront the scandal of leakage.”

Industry regulator Ofwat defines leakage as including water lost from private firms’ distribution networks, as well from consumers’ pipes.

A staggering three billion litres of water is wasted every day due to leaky pipes, according to data recorded on Discover Water.

Cat Hobbs, director of anti-privatisation group We Own It, said it was “ironic” that the government would step in to deliver reservoirs but won’t bring water into public ownership. 

“No new reservoirs have been built in England in over 30 years because privatisation has failed so badly,” she said. 

“That’s why the government is having to take control. The private sector has consistently proven that it cannot deliver for customers or the environment.

“Every penny of investment in new infrastructure like this comes from our water bills, which have just risen by a shocking 35 per cent.

“Right now, we are all paying a privatisation tax because money is leaking out to pay for shareholder dividends and expensive debt mountains racked up by greedy water companies.”