Protecting land and property from flooding and ensuring homes, businesses and amenities have enough water are two challenges being tackled by the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

The LEP brought together over 70 water professionals, business people and academics at the launch of its new Water Management Plan at the Kenwick Park Hotel near Louth on Friday (24^th February).

The Water Management Plan, which was given a seal of approval by the Environment Secretary, the Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, in the House of Commons last September, aims to increase investment in three areas: water supply, flood risk reduction and innovative ways of managing water.

Mark Tinsley, a LEP board director, Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire Water Management Board and a Lincolnshire farmer, was one of the speakers at the launch.

He said: “Greater Lincolnshire is a growth area which is planning to create 100,000 new homes and 29,000 new jobs and grow its economy by £8 billion by 2030.

“My ambition is that we don’t see flooding and water supply as two separate issues but as two sides of the same challenge.

“This plan is just the beginning; the real task now is whether we can deliver innovative water management projects that meet the needs of our local communities.”

Among the other speakers was Isobel Wright from the Lincoln Institute for Agrifood Technology at the University of Lincoln, who put water supply challenges into perspective and outlined some of the new technology which will help famers manage water more effectively in the future.

Another speaker was Ian Warsap, Chief Executive of the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board, who described the challenges of managing water over 160,000 acres of low-lying land, most of which is at or below sea level.

Also speaking and on the panel were LEP Chair Ursula Lidbetter MBE, Steve Willis (Chief Operating Officer at Lincolnshire County Council), Steve Moncaster (Project Manager at Anglian Water), Martin Collison (an adviser to the LEP on agrifood) and Professor Simon Pearson from the Lincoln Institute for Agrifood Technology at the University of Lincoln.

Following the launch of the Water Management Plan some delegates took a tour of the recently completed Louth Flood Alleviation Scheme and to put their questions to Deborah Campbell, Flood Risk and Coastal Manager for the Environment Agency .

To download a PDF of the plan visit https://www.greaterlincolnshirelep.co.uk/assets/documents/Water_Management_Plan.pdf

Notes to Editors:

• The Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership is a private and public sector partnership led by the private sector which aims to improve conditions for infrastructure and doing business in the Greater Lincolnshire area.
• One of the first LEPs to be established in the UK, the Greater Lincolnshire LEP covers a large geographical area with a population of over one million and a diverse range of industries, from ports and logistics to farming, tourism and engineering.
• It includes North and North-East Lincolnshire and the administrative county of Lincolnshire and is controlled by a LEP board made up of leading figures in the public and private sector.
• Visit www.greaterlincolnshirelep.co.uk for more information.
• Greater Lincolnshire has been affected by a number of significant coastal and inland floods, most notably in 1953, 2007, 2012 and 2013.
• The Greater Lincolnshire LEP has developed the Water Management Plan in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders and partner organisations, shaping and refining it through workshops.

For media information please contact:
Jez Ashberry
Shooting Star
01522 528540
07780 735071
jez@weareshootingstar.co.uk
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