Other stories from last week

(by Karma Loveday)

Waterscan’s founder and chief executive Neil Pendle has taken up a non-executive director role at the company. Barry Millar has stepped up as interim chief executive. He is a long-standing member of the Waterscan team and has performed roles including operations director. 

Northumbrian Water has opened registration for its annual Innovation Festival, which celebrates ten years this year. Newcastle Racecourse will play host on 6-9 July, and this year’s theme is ‘The Power of 10’. Among the activities are a record 60 sprints – ten times as many as in 2017. Register at: https://webapp.spotme.com/login/northumbrianwater/innovation-festival-2026/

Defra has published policy papers which set out the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements for water and wastewater Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. This covers how BNG must be calculated, delivered and reported on. BNG will become mandatory for NSIPs from 2 November 2026. 

Water Resources South East is consulting until 15 July on the first stage of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) framework that it will use to measure the environmental effects of the options it will consider for its next regional plan. This will cover the Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP) 2029 planning period, to 2055, and the extended planning horizon to 2105. WRSE’s six member companies will use the regional SEA to inform their WRMPs. SEA topics are wide ranging and include water, biodiversity, soil, air, landscape and health. 

UK Water Industry Research has published a report on improving approaches to demand forecasting. This is designed to support robust forecasting of household and non-household demand for Water Resource Management Plans 2029 and beyond. It will help planners select appropriate forecasting approaches that are transparent and consistent.

Drainage and network maintenance specialist Lanes Group is to come under new leadership. Long-standing leader Wayne Earnshaw will become vice-chair for strategy, and on 29 June, Joanne Gretton will take up post as chief executive. She has most recently been chief executive of Telent Technology Services. 

Amey has appointed Gert Vermeiren as sector director for engineering and Stephen Knott as chief operations director within its consulting business. Vermeiren joins from Aecom, and Knott from Amey’s transport division.