Spencer to chair national water resources group after quitting Anglian

Anglian’s director of strategic growth and resilience, Jean Spencer (pictured), is taking up the post of independent chair of the new National Water Resources Framework steering group, having recently left Anglian Water after 14 years as a director.

Spencer has strategic growth and resilience role since April 2017, and before that served as its regulation director for the 13 years since 2004. Alongside her duties at Anglian, Spencer has been a leading light in the wider industry’s work on water resources and resilience. She has been integral to the development of regional multi-sector water resources planning hub, Water Resources East. Notably, she also led the steering group that oversaw the study published in 2016 under the Water UK banner on a long-term planning framework for water resources.

This research broke ground by deploying new modelling techniques and by looking 50 years out and consequently provided a significant new evidence base for the sector. This has stimulated and informed subsequent developments including the National Infrastructure Commission’s water needs assessment, and policy moves towards regional and national water resources planning.

The new national water resources framework met for the first time last month. It will look at the long-term pressures facing all sectors, and seek to ensure greater water resilience in the future.