Last week Richard took part in a Westminster Hall debate on water companies and housing development.
Richard Fuller MP said:
There was an excellent Westminster Hall debate called by Liberal Democrat MP, Helen Morgan, to discuss the role of water companies in the planning process for new housing developments. At the moment, although water companies can offer an opinion, their opinion is not required. Ms Morgan wants to place water companies on the same statutory consultee basis as National Highways and other forms of infrastructure. This is an issue I have raised in the past.
In my own, short, intervention I raised an adjacent issue which is that the incremental nature of infrastructure cost recovery from new housing means that more strategic requirements eg in terms of flood mitigation etc are left to taxpayers or added to our water bills. I would like to see a greater contribution from developers.
Ms Morgan was right in her response that water companies should not be absolved of their responsibilities- and I agree with her. But I think we also need to realise that after two decades of rapid population growth, certainly in Bedfordshire, that the monies sourced from developers to help build our infrastructure has not been sufficient.
Richard's intervention can be watched at https://youtu.be/PHO5a81JoWI?si=uirdLr6KdXo8Nq7D
