The Grand Union Canal Transfer - find out more

The Grand Union Canal Transfer is a vital new scheme to bring water from the Midlands to the Southeast. It’s a joint water transfer project between two water companies, Severn Trent and Affinity Water, and the Canal & River Trust charity (‘the Trust’) who are the owner and navigation authority of the canals in England and Wales.

The canal network has transported people and goods for over two centuries and it’s busier now than ever before. More boats and people are visiting, and living on or by the canals, and it’s supporting waterway dependent businesses. We now want to use it to help transfer recycled water from the Midlands to the Southeast via the Coventry, Oxford, and Grand Union canals in addition to their navigation role.

The scheme would ultimately be funded through Affinity Water customer bills, but in accordance with Ofwat’s requirements (the water industry regulator) we are exploring potential options for a third-party entity to finance, construct and operate it. This funding model has been used on other projects and Ofwat is keen that we explore similar options for the Grand Union Canal Transfer. We’ll provide more detail on this as the scheme develops.

We’ve been carrying out early work over a number of years to understand how the transfer would work and what infrastructure could be required to facilitate it. We’re now at a stage where we can present more information on this and currently at non-statutory public consultation from 11 September 2024 to 25 October 2024.

To find out more please go to guctransfer.co.uk