Baroness McIntosh blocked on bid for more government urgency on mandate for sustainable drainage

Co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Water, Baroness McIntosh of Pickering, was foiled last week in an attempt to accelerate moves – currently earmarked for some time in 2024 – to ease the growing burden on wastewater networks .

She sought to secure an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill that would bring forward an end to developers’ automatic right to connect to wastewater systems and hasten a mandate for sustainable drainage in new builds. Baroness McIntosh tried, through amendment 291, to inject urgency into government plans to implement Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act. Her amendment would have committed the government to introduce Schedule 3 by the end of 2023.

Baroness McIntosh said: “I urge my noble friend the minister to use her good offices to bring the government consultation forward to the summer. A consultation normally takes 12 weeks. There is then a response and every opportunity to bring forward what I imagine will be a statutory instrument.” She added: “If Wales has been able to do it, I cannot understand why it is beyond the wit of my own government to bring it forward in England.”

Responding, Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist said the government was unable to support the amendment because a lot needs to be done before Schedule 3 can be enacted, including a public consultation, designing statutory instruments, conducing an impact assessment, setting technical standards, establishing SUDS-approving bodies and learning from the post-implementation review in Wales. She said: “ An ambitious timeline has been set, which considers parliamentary processes, to deliver this as quickly as we can. It is essential that we allow time to engage with stakeholders to help shape the details of the implementation.”

Baroness McIntosh withdrew amendment 291 but urged: “We are in a position to do something with this Bill, so I urge my noble friend to take what we have discussed back to her department and Defra and come back with government amendments before Report. Otherwise, I shall bring amendments back at that time.”