Defra updates water resources NPS to speed up planning

Defra has updated the 2023 National Policy Statement (NPS) for Water Resources to support growth, by making planning decisions for water infrastructure quicker and easier.

The updated NPS provides a clearer link to final Water Resources Management Plans, so that any project within these approved plans will not need to be reassessed at the examination stage of a Development Consent Order application.

Updating Parliament, water minister Emma Hardy said: "This national policy statement also makes clear the Government’s commitment to the water and development sectors and that water resources projects are critical to growth.”

• Ofwat has approved Thames Water’s London Water Recycling drought resilience solution to proceed to gate four of the Regulators Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development’s staged approvals process. The preferred option for this scheme is the Teddington Direct River Abstraction which would involve up to 75 megalitres per day of recycled water being discharged into the River Thames at Teddington Weir, enabling more water to be abstracted upstream to support North East London.

• Thames Water has awarded an AtkinsRéalis and Stantec joint venture a contract to develop designs for the Severn to Thames Transfer project. Under the scheme, which is an adaptive option in Thames’ Water Resources Management Plan in case additional water is needed in future, water would be moved from the River Severn to the River Thames by either a new pipeline or the restoration of the Cotswold canals. There is also the potential for additional sources of water to be provided by project partners Severn Trent and United Utilities. Richard Whale (global market director, water, AtkinsRéalis) and Mark Tindale (strategy director, water, Stantec) said in a joint statement they are “proud to be bringing together a breadth of leading environmental, design, planning, and engineering expertise to help support this water resilience project”.