Richard asks Environment Minister questions on water management including making water companies statutory consultees in planning applications

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 “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 (𝑨𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒍 2023). 𝑨 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒑𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔.”

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 “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝑨𝒄𝒕 1991 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄 𝒔𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑨 𝒔𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚, 𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒇𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 - 𝑶𝒇𝒘𝒂𝒕 - 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.” 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 “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈-𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑨𝒄𝒕 2023 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒔𝒐, 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒂𝒎 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒖𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆.”

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