Nenthead Mine Water Treatment Scheme - Project Timeline

Overview

What are the next steps for the Nenthead scheme?

2024 – we have finalised designs for the ‘Mine water capture’ area which includes:

• how mine water will be captured from the Caplecleugh and Rampgill Levels,
• the pumping station to pump the mine water up to the treatment ponds, and
• a new footbridge across the River Nent to provide us with continued access to the Caplecleugh Level.  

We will continue work to finalise the design of the ‘Treatment ponds’ and the ‘Treated water discharge’ elements of the scheme.

We held a community event on 18 March 2024 to share the latest design proposals and included a minuted Q&A session.

2025 – we hope to submit the planning application to Westmorland and Furness Council. The council will formally consult stakeholders and give the public the opportunity to make comments on the application. The statutory time limit for a decision on this kind of planning application is normally 16 weeks unless an extended period is agreed with the applicant.

 – If planning permission is granted, we would then need to appoint a contractor to build the scheme. This process will take several months and the decision to proceed will depend on the budget allocated by Government.

2026 – the earliest date to start construction is 2026.

Previous updates:

During 2022 - we continued work to develop our design proposals and carry out surveys to improve our understanding of the local ecology and ground conditions. We shared details with the community at formal events in May 2022 and November 2022. From August 2022 onwards, monthly informal drop-in sessions were held at the Hive in Nenthead so that anyone could ask the project team any questions.

During 2023 – we continued work to develop the design for the proposed pumping station, replacement footbridge, the treatment ponds and to understand whether we can reduce the construction impact on the community by re-using existing pipelines to move the mine water up to the treatment ponds. We also investigated options to decrease pollution of the river by metals washed out of the mine wastes and help protect the industrial archaeology at the mine site.

We held a community event on Saturday 20 May 2023 and shared with residents the latest scheme designs and included a minuted Q&A session.

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