Clause 80 - Flood plans: large raised reservoirs
Water Bill [Lords]
8:55 am
Mr Elliot Morley (Minister of State (Environment and Agri-Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scunthorpe, Labour)
I, too, welcome you to the Chair, Mr. O'Hara.
The clause deals with flood plans, which are basically contingency planning for reservoir management in the case of a major incident. I do not think that anyone would have any concerns about that. Procedures for the provision of new reservoirs are not in the Bill because they are dealt with in planning legislation. There are powers for companies to produce water resource plans for the next 25 years; that is an existing responsibility. Water companies may, as part of good resource planning, identify future needs for reservoirs. Proposals for reservoirs have to go through the normal planning procedures.
As the hon. Gentleman will be well aware, the building of reservoirs can be very capital intensive. It is therefore likely that companies will have to make a bid to the regulator in the five-year financial planning process to get the necessary capital provision.
Before we start looking at reservoir building it is important to maximise water efficiency. That includes reducing leakage and advocating a more efficient use of water. That can mitigate or postpone the need for reservoir building for some years. Those provisions are
not spelled out in the Bill because they exist in both resource planning and standard planning procedures.