The collaborative project was a response to the Environment Agency's (EA's) confirmation in 2021 that many water abstraction licences would be revoked or reduced in order to protect sensitive wildlife in the Ant Valley.

One of the affected growers was Tim Place, of fruit producer Place UK, who set about developing proposals for a reservoir near Neatishead to safeguard vital water supplies.

The idea was to share water with neighbouring farms in return for contributions to the capital costs, access to the river network and allowing pipelines to cross their land.

After a long, complex and frustrating process to secure the necessary grants, permissions and legal agreements, the project is finally complete - on time, and only 2.6pc over budget.

And now six farms, covering an irrigable area of 2,866 acres, will benefit from the 270,000 cubic metres of water storage - equivalent to more than 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Mr Place, the project manager, led a consortium of farming businesses run by Sir John and Tom Blofeld, Nick and Christopher Deane, Harry and Samuel Buxton, Louis and Fran Baugh, and Ian and Jo Willetts.

Tim Place led a collaboration of Norfolk farmers to build a £1.1m irrigation reservoir near Neatishead (Image: Sonya Duncan) "This is a fantastic project........

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