Issues of water management – from flooding to housing development, to sewage discharges – have been a major and increasing focus of Richard's work as your Member of Parliament.
Since December 2023, Richard has been actively supporting constituents across the constituency including in Wyboston, Tempsford, and Great Barford, who have suffered from sewage backup and flooding due to heavy rainfall, visiting affected households to understand the extent of the problem. He also held a public meeting so that residents could ask Anglian Water about wastewater overflows and their effect on the sewage system. Richard has visited a number of Water Treatment Centres with local councillors, including Odell, Wyboston, Riseley, Great Barford, Biggleswade and the pumping station at Clapham as well as the new treatment wetland in construction at Everton.
Each time a new incident occurred, it became apparent to Richard that when constituents raised a concern it was frequently not clear which agency was responsible. Was it the Environment Agency, the Council, or Anglian Water?
So that is why, based on a model started in Norfolk for Flood Risk management, Richard urged the formation of a group in May 2024 which could think more strategically about flood risk management, water quality and provide a “one stop shop” for resolving water issues raised by people in North Bedfordshire.
He engaged with the Mayor of Bedford Borough, Tom Wootton, proposing the formation of a North Bedfordshire Water Management group and was delighted when the Mayor took up this initiative as the council has significant statutory powers which MPs do not. This group has united Anglian Water, local Drainage Boards, the Environment Agency, Parish Councils and local environmental groups. The function of the group is to create a coherent, shared action plan, ensuring each agency is accountable.
Professor Paul Leinster CBE agreed to chair this initiative, turning his considerable experience to develop a coherent long-term plan for water resources in North Bedfordshire. Richard was also pleased that BedsGovet was included. This relatively new voluntary group is combining a thorough data driven basis of analysis with a “no holds barred” approach to seeking accountability when the data shows things are going wrong.
The group had its first meeting in February 2025 and has three main objectives. Firstly to end the finger pointing between agencies that so infuriates constituents when flooding or other issues arise by providing a single focus for determining accountability. Secondly to provide a comprehensive assessment of flood risk for North Bedfordshire including the impact of Universal Studios and a new town at Tempsford should these go ahead. Third, to achieve a step change improvement in the quality of our two main waterways, the River Great Ouse and the Ivel.
Nationally, a thorough and serious review of the UK water industry was recently published by its chair Sir Jon Cunliffe. His report makes very sensible recommendations such as combining the powers of different regulators into one agency; more long term thinking on managing water resource as it will be more efficient and help attract more private investment; the Government giving greater clarity on its priorities so water companies are clearer on trade-offs; water companies improving their governance to reflect better their public duties and toughening up licence conditions.
The current Government has committed to the abolition of the current regulator OFWAT and its replacement with a new unified regulator as recommended by Sir Jon. Richard had urged the last government to strengthen oversight of our regulators such as OFWAT so it is positive that this government is now taking action.
Richard hopes that as both national and local efforts develop over the weeks and months ahead, people will see a material difference.
See below for all of Richard's news on Water Management and Flooding.
