Call for water firm to get legal say on housing

There are growing calls for South East Water (SEW) to be allowed to have a legal say on large scale housing developments.

A debate was sparked during a Kent County Council (KCC) scrutiny committee meeting by councillor Antony Hook, who wants water suppliers and sewage companies to be involved when discussing housebuilding, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Hook said that such consultations would "ensure sustainable growth", adding: "Upgrading water companies to statutory consultees, particularly over the supply side, would allow those companies to flag capacity constraints early."

However, there are concerns this could allow SEW to veto applications.

The water company can currently consult and comment on council local plans, but cannot share views on planning applications.

SEW's concerns that it is unable to supply parts of Kent became clear in March when it warned it could supply only one third of the nearly 20,000 houses planned for the Tonbridge & Malling borough in the next 16 years.

John Britt, chair of Lenham Parish Council, said: "As our weather patterns change and water becomes scarcer in the natural environment, we need to question why we aren't asking the water companies whether the plans for housing are realistic in terms of provision."

Other councillors agreed, saying it would be "enormously helpful" to have SEW's input.

However, Labour MP for Dartford Jim Dickson thought they should be consulted, but not have a legal say.

"It would seem sensible to consider how water companies can be brought into the planning system earlier on," he said.

"I would, however, caution against making them statutory consultees as this could give them a veto on new developments."

In response to a previous recommendation, the government implemented a new plan-making system which will "ensure better join-up between water and development planning processes".

It said the new system includes prescribing water and sewerage companies in "requirement to assist" regulations so they will be obliged to help with plan-making "where reasonably requested".

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