To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on designating water companies as responsible and impartial statutory consultees in the planning system.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is the lead department for designating statutory consultees in the planning application process. The water companies are already statutory consultees on local plan development, and can be consulted on a non-statutory basis for individual planning applications. Requiring water companies to be consulted on every planning application would represent a significant burden, potentially adding unnecessary delay to the planning process.