Richard asks Environment Minister questions on water management

tap image

Issues of water management in North Bedfordshire are a serious and growing matter. The effects of changing rainfall patterns, the rapid growth in housing and the environmental protection of the River Great Ouse, the River Ivel and their tributaries require ever greater coordination.

As do responses to the incidents of flooding such as those over this past Winter that affected Harrold, Great Barford, Wyboston, Tempsford and parts of Sandy in particular.

Richard Fuller MP said:

As part of my efforts, I recently asked three questions of the Environment Minister and I thought I would share his responses:

I asked what plans there were to commence schedule 3 of the Floods and Water Act 2010. This would require large new housing developments to incorporate sustainable drainage systems. I asked this because I feel we should be looking for the most environmentally friendly approach to water management and encouraging water reuse wherever possible while at the same time avoiding undue pressure on existing sewage and wastewater systems. The Minister replied โ€œ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ฎ๐’๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’• ๐’“๐’†๐’Ž๐’‚๐’Š๐’๐’” ๐’‡๐’Š๐’“๐’Ž๐’๐’š ๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’Ž๐’Š๐’•๐’•๐’†๐’… ๐’•๐’ ๐’…๐’†๐’๐’Š๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’๐’…๐’‚๐’“๐’…๐’Š๐’”๐’†๐’… ๐’”๐’–๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’Š๐’๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’† ๐’…๐’“๐’‚๐’Š๐’๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† ๐’”๐’š๐’”๐’•๐’†๐’Ž๐’” ๐’Š๐’ ๐’๐’†๐’˜ ๐’…๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’๐’๐’‘๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’•๐’” ๐’‚๐’” ๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐’… ๐’Š๐’ ๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐‘ท๐’๐’‚๐’ ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐‘พ๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐’“ (๐‘จ๐’‘๐’“๐’Š๐’ 2023). ๐‘จ ๐’„๐’๐’๐’”๐’–๐’๐’•๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’‚๐’Œ๐’† ๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’† ๐’”๐’‰๐’๐’“๐’•๐’๐’š ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’‡๐’Š๐’๐’‚๐’ ๐’Š๐’Ž๐’‘๐’๐’†๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’•๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’…๐’†๐’„๐’Š๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’๐’” ๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’…๐’† ๐’๐’ ๐’”๐’„๐’๐’‘๐’†, ๐’•๐’‰๐’“๐’†๐’”๐’‰๐’๐’๐’… ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’„๐’†๐’”๐’”.โ€

I asked if the government would make an assessment of the potential merits of ending the automatic right of new housing developments to connect to the sewage system. I asked this because residents in Great Barford and other towns that are experiencing significant housing growth are concerned of the impact these additional sewage and wastewater requirements will place on existing systems. The Minister replied โ€œ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘พ๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐’“ ๐‘ฐ๐’๐’…๐’–๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’š ๐‘จ๐’„๐’• 1991 ๐’‘๐’†๐’“๐’Ž๐’Š๐’•๐’” ๐’๐’˜๐’๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐’๐’‡ ๐’‘๐’“๐’†๐’Ž๐’Š๐’”๐’†๐’” ๐’๐’“ ๐’๐’‡ ๐’‘๐’“๐’Š๐’—๐’‚๐’•๐’† ๐’”๐’†๐’˜๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐’•๐’ ๐’„๐’๐’๐’๐’†๐’„๐’• ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‘๐’–๐’ƒ๐’๐’Š๐’„ ๐’”๐’†๐’˜๐’†๐’“ ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’ ๐’…๐’Š๐’”๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’ˆ๐’† ๐’Š๐’๐’•๐’ ๐’Š๐’• ๐’‡๐’๐’–๐’ ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’”๐’–๐’“๐’‡๐’‚๐’„๐’† ๐’˜๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐’“. ๐‘จ ๐’”๐’†๐’˜๐’†๐’“๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’‘๐’‚๐’๐’š ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’š, ๐’‰๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’“, ๐’“๐’†๐’‡๐’–๐’”๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’„๐’๐’๐’๐’†๐’„๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’Š๐’‡ ๐’Š๐’• ๐’‚๐’‘๐’‘๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’–๐’„๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’๐’“ ๐’„๐’๐’๐’…๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’๐’๐’†๐’„๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’…๐’“๐’‚๐’Š๐’ ๐’๐’“ ๐’”๐’†๐’˜๐’†๐’“ ๐’…๐’๐’†๐’” ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’”๐’๐’๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’š ๐’”๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’”๐’‡๐’š ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’๐’…๐’‚๐’“๐’…๐’” ๐’Š๐’• ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’”๐’๐’๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’š ๐’“๐’†๐’’๐’–๐’Š๐’“๐’†๐’” ๐’๐’“ ๐’Š๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’๐’๐’†๐’„๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’˜๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐’‘๐’“๐’†๐’‹๐’–๐’…๐’Š๐’„๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐’Š๐’•๐’” ๐’๐’˜๐’ ๐’”๐’†๐’˜๐’†๐’“๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† ๐’”๐’š๐’”๐’•๐’†๐’Ž. ๐‘พ๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’’๐’–๐’†๐’”๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’๐’” ๐’๐’“ ๐’…๐’Š๐’”๐’‘๐’–๐’•๐’†๐’” ๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’–๐’• ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’”๐’๐’๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’†๐’๐’†๐’”๐’”, ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’“๐’†๐’ˆ๐’–๐’๐’‚๐’•๐’๐’“ - ๐‘ถ๐’‡๐’˜๐’‚๐’• - ๐’˜๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’Œ๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‡๐’Š๐’๐’‚๐’ ๐’…๐’†๐’•๐’†๐’“๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’.โ€ Not convinced personally by this process.

Finally I asked whether the government had made a recent assessment of the potential merits of making water companies statutory consultees in planning permission applications for new housing developments. I asked this because if we can ensure local water companies are involved right at the start before developers get their approvals we might avoid a lot of problems later on. The Minister replied โ€œ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ฎ๐’๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’• ๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’Ž๐’Š๐’•๐’•๐’†๐’… ๐’…๐’–๐’“๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‘๐’‚๐’”๐’”๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ณ๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ-๐’–๐’‘ ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘น๐’†๐’ˆ๐’†๐’๐’†๐’“๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐‘จ๐’„๐’• 2023 ๐’•๐’ ๐’„๐’๐’๐’”๐’–๐’๐’• ๐’๐’ ๐’˜๐’‰๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’˜๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐’“ ๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’‘๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’†๐’” ๐’”๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’† ๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’•๐’–๐’•๐’๐’“๐’š ๐’„๐’๐’๐’”๐’–๐’๐’•๐’†๐’†๐’” ๐’๐’ ๐’„๐’†๐’“๐’•๐’‚๐’Š๐’ ๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‚๐’‘๐’‘๐’๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’๐’”, ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’Š๐’‡ ๐’”๐’, ๐’‰๐’๐’˜ ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’”๐’• ๐’•๐’ ๐’…๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’”. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘บ๐’†๐’„๐’“๐’†๐’•๐’‚๐’“๐’š ๐’๐’‡ ๐‘บ๐’•๐’‚๐’•๐’† ๐’‰๐’‚๐’” ๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’„๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’Ž๐’Š๐’”๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’๐’†๐’… ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’Ž ๐‘น๐’Š๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’…๐’” ๐’•๐’ ๐’–๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“๐’•๐’‚๐’Œ๐’† ๐’‚๐’ ๐’Š๐’๐’…๐’†๐’‘๐’†๐’๐’…๐’†๐’๐’• ๐’“๐’†๐’—๐’Š๐’†๐’˜ ๐’๐’‡ ๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’•๐’–๐’•๐’๐’“๐’š ๐’„๐’๐’๐’”๐’–๐’๐’•๐’†๐’†๐’” ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’”๐’š๐’”๐’•๐’†๐’Ž ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’“๐’†๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’…๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’๐’” ๐’‡๐’“๐’๐’Ž ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐’‘๐’–๐’ƒ๐’๐’Š๐’”๐’‰๐’†๐’… ๐’Š๐’ ๐’…๐’–๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’–๐’“๐’”๐’†.โ€

I plan more announcements on water management improvements in North Bedfordshire in the coming weeks

You may also be interested in

Wastewater Overflows and Flooding

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.