The Working Group set up by Ofwat to examine the main design features of the market mechanism is making further progress on developing the building blocks for the upcoming sludge market -  the bioresources market could be worth up to £780 million, according to the regulator.

A new report from the Government’s independent Adviser on climate change is warning that flooding is the greatest direct climate change-related risk to UK infrastructure, while severe water supply deficits are set to deepen and extend across the UK by the 2050s.

Water and Floods Minister Rory Stewart has told Parliament that once an incumbent leaves the market and the new entrant enters, the incumbent company would not then be able to come back into that market or an individual non-household customer move back and forth between their previous provider and the new one.

Ofwat has warned that a post-Brexit scenario which foresees higher inflation, lower interest rates and lower growth, at the same time as their customers become poorer and find it harder to pay their bills, could pose a very significant challenge for the water sector in terms of customer legitimacy.

UK construction output has fallen at its fastest pace since June 2009, while incoming new work has declined at its steepest pace since December 2012, according to the latest data from the  Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index®.