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Investment by the harbour is currently funded from its retained earnings, rather than by borrowing money.

As well as bolstering the balance sheet, the made-up £1.68bn has also been added to Severn Trent Water's retained earnings - that is the pot of money from which cash can be paid out to shareholders.

Severn Trent Water's 2023/24 accounts - which include the £1.68bn investment - report the company has very healthy retained earnings of £1.84bn.

But the accounts for the wider Severn Trent Group, where all the creative accounting is cancelled out, show retained earnings of just £7.9m.

The BLS will update retained earnings every six months using half-year data and will calculate a two-year moving average to smooth the changes in retained earnings.