While the Liberal Democrats gave sewage clean-up a high profile in their manifesto, none of the other parties majored on water matters in their pledges. All had something to say about the future of the sector, but there was little detail beyond sweeping statements. That’s despite sewage in rivers being a focus for local campaigning ahead of the country going to the polls.
The Lib Dems plan to overhaul both water companies and Ofwat. Few new details emerged in Labour’s Change document. The Conservatives said they would pursue catchment-based, outcome-focused regulation, should they be re-elected. Both the Greens and Reform looked to public ownership.
The water pledges from the manifestos of the five national parties are summarised below:
Liberal Democrat:
Scrap Ofwat and replace it with a Clean Water Authority with powers to:
transform water companies into ‘public benefit companies’ with reformed governance structures including representation of local environmental groups on company boards
ban bonuses for water bosses until leaks and discharges end
revoke the licence of poorly performing water companies
force water firms to publish the volumes of sewage spilled (rather than just the number and duration)
set legally binding targets on sewage discharges (see below).
More funding for the Environment Agency and Natural England, and strengthen the Office for Environmental Protection.
Introduce a ‘Sewage Tax’ on water company profits.
Sewage discharges: enforce existing laws to ensure that the storm overflows only function in exceptional circumstances; set legally binding targets to prevent sewage release into bathing waters; embrace nature-based solutions to tackle the problem of sewage spills; and mandate all water companies to publish accessible real-time data on any sewage they discharge.
Introduce a single social tariff in the next Parliament to address water poverty.
Monitoring: improve the quantity and quality of bathing waters and sensitive nature sites with more regular and robust testing of water quality; and strengthen the powers of local authorities to monitor the health of rivers, lakes and coastlines, restore the natural environment and tackle climate change.
Introduce a ‘blue corridor’ programme for rivers, streams and lakes and set new ‘blue flag’ standards.
Implement Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act to require sustainable drainage systems in new developments.
Labour:
Put water companies into ‘special measures’.
New powers for regulators to block bonuses for pollution.
Criminal charges for persistent law-breaking.
Automatic fines for ‘wrongdoing’.
Independent monitoring of storm overflows.
Conservative:
Continue with existing Plan for Water.
Bonus ban for serious criminal breaches.
Create a River Recovery Network, modelled on the nature recovery network, which links up habitats to multiply the benefits for wildlife and water quality, and creates new destinations for recreation. This will be funded using water company fines in the water restoration fund, and will take a local, tailored approach like the plan for the River Wye.
Reform the price review process – “This will consider how we move to a more localised catchment-based and outcome-focussed approach, that better utilises nature-based solutions and further strengthens sanctions for water companies that fail to deliver for the public, coasts and rivers.”
Extend the £50 water rebate for those in the South West across the Parliament.
Green:
Public ownership for water, big five energy retail companies and rail.
Reform:
Create a new ownership model for critical national infrastructure, to bring 50% of each utility into public ownership, with the other 50% owned by UK pension funds.
Build new reservoirs in high rainfall areas.
Stop the release of sewage into rivers and seas.
Merge the National Infrastructure Commission and the Infrastructure Bank – “Scrap all Net Zero related objectives. Simplify the funding process, save time, cut waste, boost funding and ensure accountability.”
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