Water pipeline approved between Dorset and Wiltshire

Plans to build a 40 mile (64km) pipeline to carry water from a Dorset treatment plant into Wiltshire have been approved by Wiltshire Council.

The 60cm (2ft) pipe will be laid through the Cranborne Chase and the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty from Corfe Mullen to Salisbury.

The application was granted earlier, despite residents' concerns about the impact on the environment,

Work on the project is due to begin this summer and be complete by 2017.

The pipes, which will bring surplus water from the Dorset water treatment plant into the county, were given planning permission in East Dorset and North Dorset in March.

In Wiltshire, the route includes the Donheads, Sedgehill and Semley, East and West Knoyle, Upper Deverill, Codford, Sherrington, Stockton, Wylye, the Langfords, Great Wishford and South Newton.

'Secure water supply'

Dan Bennett, from the Royal Oak in Great Wishford, said the construction will create a "big mud bowl".

"It's a beautiful place to live and to basically have mud mounds all over the place is going to ruin it," he said.

"It's going to look a mess and it's going to take a long time for grass and roots to grow back."

Drummond Modley, from Wessex Water, said the pipeline was needed to improve the "security of water supply" for 88,000 customers in Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset.

"Many of the pipelines we lay, you can not see where we've been after a couple of years," he said.

"The pipe will transfer over 20 million litres of water a day from the south to the Salisbury area, that is equivalent to about six Olympic size pools per day."

As part of the scheme, Wessex Water will also enlarge its existing treatment works at Littledown, Codford, Wylye and Camp Hill and create new sites at Monkton Deverill and Summerslade Down.