That is a bit of a red herring, because all the things I have just outlined involve costed plans and the monitoring of plans. Water companies will now have to produce drainage and sewage management plans. Previously, they had to produce only drainage plans, but now they have to produce sewage plans, so we will know what comprehensive infrastructure is required.
My hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Anthony Mangnall) touched on the important issue of housing. We must ensure that the development that we all need and the housing that people want are linked up correctly to our water system. A lot of work has been going on in that respect, and I am sure that my hon. Friend welcomes the fact that what we call sustainable urban drainage systems, or SUDS, will now be mandatory. The right to connect surface water to public sewers will be conditional
on companies putting in sustainable urban drainage systems. That will help to separate the storm water so that it does not go down our sewage pipes. That has been talked about for a long time—it was one of my pet subjects when I was a Back Bencher—so I am delighted that the Government are making it a reality.
The hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton read out lots of gruelling letters from his constituents, but it is quite interesting that South West Water has just introduced a scheme called WaterShare+. One in 14 households in the south-west have become shareholders in South West Water, so they will be able to play an active part in holding their water company to account and making sure it is a socially responsible business. I believe South West Water is taking note of what comes its way from its customers. It needs to put it right, and I genuinely hope it will.
All water companies must clean up their act, and the Government have demonstrated that we have the most comprehensive plan in the history of the water industry to make that happen. We will work with the water companies and Ofwat to make sure that happens, but will not hesitate to take action using all the powers now available if we do not see the improvement that we need.
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