The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has launched a major new consultation on the development of a national policy statement for water resources and the types of infrastructure that it will apply to.

In March this year, the government announced that it intended to develop a national policy statement (NPS) for water resources aimed at streamlining the planning application process to gain planning consents for nationally significant water resources infrastructure projects.

Defra is now seeking comments on its approach to developing a national policy statement for water resources and on proposals to amend the definition of nationally significant water infrastructure in the Planning Act 2008. The Department is presenting options on the sizes and types of infrastructure which could lead to amendments to the thresholds and definition of nationally significant water infrastructure in the Planning Act 2008 and calling for relevant evidence to support options.

The consultation document states:

“The public water supply in parts of the country is already exposed to an unacceptable level of risk of drought. There is potential for high economic losses from restrictions on business and public sector users during periods with the most severe level of restrictions on water use.”

“Without further action, parts of England will face a gap between demand for water and available supplies.”

Launching the consultation, Defra said that by the 2050s England is expected to face a water deficit of 8-22% of total water demand, commenting:

“Government is clear we must take ambitious action to reduce demand for water by being more water efficient. At the same time, new water resources will also be needed meaning that new large infrastructure such as reservoirs or water transfers will be part of the solution.”

“Achieving a step change in drought resilience will require ambitious action to reduce demand for water and the development of new water resources at both a regional and national scale.”

The role of the NPS is to present the national evidence base and demonstrate the need for new large scale water resource infrastructure.  It will also provide detailed guidance setting out the framework for decisions on new large water supply projects.

The consultation is in three specific parts:

• The three principles Defra will use to guide the detailed development of the NPS itself;
• Proposals to change the types and sizes of new water supply infrastructure that are defined as ‘nationally significant’ in the Planning Act 2008
• The scoping reports that describe the approach Defra intends to take for the Assessment of Sustainability and Habitats Regulations Assessments that accompany the NPS.

The Planning Act 2008 already has a process in place for making planning decisions for wastewater infrastructure projects of national significance, together with other fields like energy and transport.

The consultation paper says this provides a clear framework for the examination and decision-making processes, which has the potential to accelerate the process. However, the planning process has not previously been available for water resources projects.

Defra has developed three underlying principles that should apply to the development of the NPS:

• Principle 1: Defra will develop an NPS that sets out the need for water infrastructure as part of a ‘twin track’ approach to managing water resources.
• Principle 2: The NPS will reinforce and make clear the role of water companies’ water resource management plans in identifying the most appropriate water resources schemes, including new water resources infrastructure.
• Principle 3: The NPS will reiterate the importance of developing and designing water resources schemes that meet the government’s objective to enhance the environment.

The NPS is separately subject to an appraisal of sustainability (AoS) and habitats regulations assessment (HRA). Alongside the consultation, Defra has published an AoS scoping report and HRA methodology report on which it is also seeking comment.

The AoS and HRA will form the basis of Defra’s national need case in the NPS, which will set out why new nationally significant water resources infrastructure is needed as part of a twin track approach to addressing the resilience of water supplies.

Water companies will need to work together in a joined up way

The consultation paper says that to make sure an optimal approach is taken for the planning and design of new water resources, the water companies need to consider strategic regional and national needs as well as local needs and work together in a joined up way.

Defra is expecting to see some strategic supply options developed through collaborations by the regional planning groups of water resources south east (WRSE) and water resources east (WRE).presented in water companies’ draft Water Resource Management Plans at the end of this year.

The consultation paper says Defra expects some new infrastructure projects, especially those developed on a regional and national scale, “to be of a substantial size and complexity”, for example large transfers of water from areas of surplus to areas of deficit. The schemes will be strategic in nature and might cross a number of water company areas. “There is potential for several schemes developed in separate water companies’ WRMPs to be linked or rely upon one another”, the paper says.

Need to avoid setting perverse incentives to over-size infrastructure or favour one infrastructure type over others

However, Defra wants to avoid setting perverse incentives to over-size infrastructure or favour one infrastructure type over others by including/excluding them from the NSIP planning process.

Options for amending the NSIP definitions considered in the consultation paper include:

i. The size of the current thresholds for reservoirs and transfers;

ii. Whether to introduce other infrastructure types into the definition and if so at what threshold; and

iii. Whether to remove the requirement for NSIPs to be carried out by a water undertaker

Views sought of cost analysis of £160m hypothetical reservoir scheme

Using estimates based on schemes in other fields known to have been delivered through the NSIP route, such as the Thames Tideway Tunnel wastewater project, Defra has developed a cost analysis for a hypothetical reservoir scheme which could benefit from NSIP designation assuming a 10 million m3 threshold.

The “exemplar” has a total capacity of just over 10 million m3, which based on available cost evidence might have a total capital cost of around £160 million. The analysis suggests that the cost savings for the project to the developers would be around £1.15 million compared to the existing planning consent process.

The net benefit once estimated administration costs are deducted is £1.06 million. Defra is keen to receive further information on the costs of the planning process for developing water resources schemes to inform the analysis.

The NPS is also intended to work alongside the statutory water resources planning process and inform forthcoming water company business plans for the AMP7 2020 – 2025 investment programme.

The NPS will be non-site specific and is likely to contain information concerning:

• the policy context for water resources infrastructure; the need for water resources infrastructure;
• development principles including criteria for good design;
• generic impacts and siting considerations, including generic mitigation measures.

The responses will inform the development of the NPS and final proposals to amend the definitions in the Planning Act 2008. Defra intends to consult on a full draft of the NPS in 2018.

Deadline to submit responses is 22 December 2017 – click here to access the consultation online