Humber Doucy Brewery in Bacton affected by water plans

Alan Ridealgh, who co-owns Humber Doucy Brewery with his son John in Bacton, near Stowmarket, fears his business will not be able to grow due to a moratorium implemented by Essex & Suffolk Water. 

A temporary prohibition of new non-domestic supplies in the Hartismere Water Resource Zone, around Eye, has been put in place until 2033.

The Environment Agency say the area is "seriously water stressed" and may not have "sufficient water resources to meet all forecast mains water demand". 

The Hartismere Water Resource Zone (Image: Essex and Suffolk Water)

Mr Ridealgh said while there are some "great ideas for how to conserve supply", he is concerned about the impact it will have on his brewery. 

"In other words, we could not have any more water than we are using," he said.

"There is a lot of start up businesses in the Hartismere area because the funding from government, from Mid Suffolk District Council, from Suffolk County Council has been for food, hospitality and tourism for this area. An awful lot of which will use water."

A meeting was held between Essex and Suffolk Water, the Federation of Small Businesses, the district council and the brewery to hear more about the plans.

The business is one of several to be affected by the moratorium (Image: Sarah Lucy Brown) The brewery boss said some of the proposals, such as storage reservoirs, strategic pipelines and reuse schemes, may not come in until after 2033. 

A leaflet sent to customers and available on the water company's website states: "The moratorium will remain in place until all new supply schemes to support development in this area are operational.

"We envisage this will be in the year 2033 but it could be earlier or later."

Mr Ridealgh added: "It is just an impossible situation.

"We are still in start up mode. Covid got in the way of a lot of things and to have this come out of the blue, when you're coming out of a growth curve, is really annoying."