Greater London Authority Bill

My Lords, Amendment No. 54 extends greatly the Mayor’s responsibilities into the area of water regulation. It will give the Mayor a duty to produce and keep under review a water and sewerage strategy for London that will include proposals and policies for ensuring that the water and sewerage infrastructure is able to cope with the actual and planned developments. Water companies have for some time produced long-term water resources management plans on a voluntary basis, and from April this year, that became a statutory requirement. The Water Resources Management Plan Regulations 2007 set out certain steps a water company must follow with respect to publication of and consultation on a draft water resources management plan, and the publication of its final plan. The first set of draft plans are expected to be consulted on in the spring and summer of 2008, and we sincerely hope that the Mayor will respond to the consultation on the draft plans for companies that serve London. The water resources management plan details what further information the water resources management plans should include and the timetable for their submission and publication. The Environment Agency has prepared detailed guidance for water companies on the content of water resources management plans and timings for the completion of each stage of the process. After the final water resources management plan is published, it will be reviewed annually by the water company. If there is a relevant material change in circumstances, such as significant new developments, then the water company must submit a revised plan. The Secretary of State can also direct a water company to submit a revised plan if required, after consulting the Environment Agency. In addition, to comply with the EC urban waste water treatment directive, sewerage companies have to plan what is needed by way of sewage treatment in order to serve an increasing population. The Environment Agency advised Ministers as recently as September last year that large-scale water transfers for south-east England are not currently necessary before 2025. This is despite assumptions as to projected increases in population in the south-east of just over 2.2 million people by 2030. Development issues relating to water and sewerage infrastructure are already very much under consideration by regulators and the companies themselves. As I said in Grand Committee, the regulation of water is far more complex than it is for all the other utilities. The noble Baroness said that we should ensure that someone is responsible for making sure that what needs to be done is done, and that that should be the Mayor, but it must recognised that London-specific proposals would have implications for services, infrastructure and customer bills over a much wider area than the administrative area of Greater London for which the Mayor is responsible. For example, it is much more appropriate and fairer for all the customers of the four companies that include parts of London within their supply areas that decisions on future water supply are taken on the basis of statutory water resource management plans that have been the subject of wide consultation. Furthermore, the EC water framework directive requires regulation of the water environment to be carried out on a river-based and district basis. There is therefore no justification at all for a London-specific water policy. I understand that the Mayor intends to produce a non-statutory water action framework for London, which could be usefully added to the ongoing debate on water resources and efficiency. The noble Baroness mentioned development. I am not going to go into all the details of, for example, the development in the Thames gateway and the south-east but modern dwellings are much more efficient in the use of water than they ever were in the past. Our greatest problem is dealing with the stock of dwellings in this country, to make them as efficient as new dwellings. I am not saying that there is not a problem simply because new dwellings are more efficient. The Secretary of State wrote to the Mayor on8 May, confirming that he would have a non-statutory duty to consider the Mayor’s strategy when developing national policy. We will also offer a formal government response to the strategy. I hope that what I have said today—briefly, by necessity—and what was said in Grand Committee have demonstrated that planning in the water sector should be the primary responsibility of the water and sewage companies and their regulators, of which there are many. I therefore ask the noble Baroness to withdraw her amendment.