Other stories from last week

(by Karma Loveday)

Cross-party think tank Policy Connect, through the Westminster Sustainable Business Forum, is calling for evidence until 29 April for its fifth Bricks and Water inquiry, focused on water and housing.

The specific focus of the latest inquiry is water resources and reuse, following the Cunliffe Review recommendations and Water White Paper policies. It seeks to build evidence and make recommendations to Government ahead of the forthcoming Water Bill on practical measures to achieve benefits quickly. Priority themes are:

• Water resources, including storage, supply, and demand.

• Water efficiency, including household use, commercial use, and leakage.

• Water reuse, including rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling, and the use of sustainable drainage systems.

For details, see: https://policyconnect.org.uk/news/call-for-evidence-bricks-and-water-5/

Ofwat has published a study it commissioned from Mott MacDonald (that was completed in April 2025) on a proposed approach to determine capital maintenance allowances at PR29. The work reviewed the approaches taken by Ofwat, WICS, NIAUR and Ofgem and recommended triangulating allowances between those determined by econometric modelling and forward-looking asset health investment models. These models would need to be developed from company data on asset criticality, condition, future operating conditions and remaining life. Mott MacDonald said Ofwat would also need to work with the sector to develop criteria for asset criticality, to measure asset condition and future operating condition, to form a sector level view of expected asset lives and to develop a unit cost database. It said this route “is less complex than the NARMs approach adopted by Ofgem and therefore is more likely to be successfully implemented”. 

The Environment Agency has published planning guidance to support water companies and regional water resources groups to assess long-term environmental needs. The Environmental Destination for Water Resources planning guidance provides a structured approach to propose a regional environmental destination, and the steps to get there. 

Last Mile has secured a contract to provide water, electricity and ultrafast fibre connections to 6,500 new homes, five schools, and a range of commercial premises at the Waterbeach redevelopment in Cambridgeshire. The company highlighted that this includes one of the UK’s single largest water network adoptions under the New Appointment and Variations programme.

The Government has announced an £86.5m investment in the UK’s first green hydrogen project – where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen – in South Yorkshire. Publicly owned Great British Energy has invested £40m, and the Government has agreed a £46.5m grant in principle, for ITM Power UK, in a project that has promised to provide clean energy and 400 new jobs.