Agenda item

1.    Paul Kent attended to an update from Southern Water.  Mr Kent is the Environment and Wastewater Strategy Manager, accountable for identification of expenditure requirements of above and below ground wastewater assets, to maintain and improve performance.  He is also responsible for agreeing environmental improvements required to meet legislative drivers. Developing an integrated catchment approach to delivering environmental improvements. Also responsible for identifying future investment requirements arising from development and growth in the southeast.

1.    Mr Kent provided an overview of the activities of Southern Water, notable that Southern Water take nearly 70% of its water from underground sources, called aquifers, 23% from rivers and 7% from storage reservoirs.  Each day, it treats and recycles 718 million litres of wastewater at 365 treatment works after it is pumped through a network of 2,375 pumping stations and 39,600km of sewers.  Mr Kent also commented that Southern Water operated in a crowded market place and that it was unusual for so many companies to be active in the area covered by the south east.

2.    Mr Kent explained that Southern Water had a statutory duty to provide service; regardless of the level of capacity and that this had led to issues where excess demand has had negative consequences for the water and sewage network.  He noted specific examples such as Headcorn developments where local factors had to be taken into account when planning and arranging large scale developments with water and sewage connection requirements.

3.    Mr Kent clarified that Southern Water did not have a formal role with the planning process but he advised that effective planning of work and developments in terms of water needs was critical to allowing smooth and timely implementation when required.  He noted that where capacity was already at maximum, new developments would necessitate new investment and that this could only be facilitated when reliable information was available through effective forward planning with developers and planning authorities, emphasising that planning certainty was vital for Southern Water to justify additional investment, lest money and time be wasted on works that go unused.  He explained that information sharing and joint working with partners, local authorities and developers had improved but there remained room for improvement.  He highlighted the Ebbsfleet Garden City project as an example where initial capacity and connection requests were received but not implemented at the time due to the investment required, which had been proved a correct decision given that the works were still not needed several years later.

4.    To support better communication and effective planning, water companies had been trying to make connections to the system conditional on various factors within developments and planning applications.  Mr Kent advised that raising the eventual utility needs and related work time and cost investment at an early stage had been beneficial in ensuring developers were able to plan their projects more effectively.  Linked with this, Mr Kent explained that progress had been made on ensuring better communication over connection work and prices too place with developers at an earlier stage and this the planned progression to a flat rate system for connections was expected to make the process even better and more transparent in the future.  He hoped that this would allow better long term work planning to avoid historic issues where it had been difficult for water companies to meet developer timetables due to short notice.

5.    Mr Kent provided a summary of development work in Kent, with reference to Otterpool, Whitfield and Ebbsfleet.  In the case of Otterpool, Mr Kent explained that a large strategic solution had been required as the treatment works in Shepway would not be able to support the development, so work was planned for Hythe.  Regarding the Whitfield development, Mr Kent explained that Southern Water were currently updating the Drainage Area Plan, which then allow an appropriate solution to provide effective drainage and support a whole development approach rather than piecemeal reactive problem solving.  Mr Kent noted that the scale of the Ebbsfleet Garden City project required a significant strategic solution to providing a sewerage system and wastewater treatment works and that this was being worked on in partnership with the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation.

6.    In terms of securing water resources, Mr Kent advised the committee that effluent re-use would be permitted from 2022 and that this was expected to help support better use of resources and avoid unnecessary waste.  Other improvements planned around securing resources were considered in terms of investment cost and their environmental impact.

7.    Mr Kent outlined the consideration of Drainage Strategy in that it involved looking at longer term risks and relevant action plans.  This work included consideration of partner activities to support strategic links with key partners on long term planning.

8.    Members thanked Mr Kent for the detailed presentation and for providing a good overview of Southern Water activities.  A Member raised a local issue for progression outside of the meeting.

9.    Responding to questions from Members, Mr Kent explained that there was no national agreement between companies on sharing or managing water supplies given the significant infrastructure required to transport it around the country but he advised that positive co-operation on a regional basis did take place and was beneficial.  Ms Irgin commented that historically there had been less water trading between companies than might have been expected but that this was expected to change in future.  She confirmed that links between companies in the south east looked promising.

10. In answer to a Member question about local plans, Mr Kent explained that there were future plans being considered that would make water companies statutory consultees but clarified that at present the focus was on water companies being more responsive to customer need.  He advised that Southern Water were working Arun Council on development areas to build draft solutions at the early planning stage.  This work being highlighted as good evidence of the benefit of developers sharing proper forward plans early on.

11. Members discussed the benefits of metered water systems, noting the positive development that 92% of Southern Water’s customers were metered.  Mr Kent explained that the majority of those not yet converted to metering lived in properties where there were significant physical barriers to individual meter installation.

12. Responding to a Member question on water pollution the level of investment required to address this issue, Mr Kent explained that the Water Resources Management Plan was in place and it considered all possible options for minimising pollution issues.  The plan refined the list of viable options down on realistic implementation prospects based on their cost and environmental impact framework.

13. In answer to a Member question about other best practice in engagement with utility companies, Mr Kent advised the Committee that Kent was leading the way at present and should be regarded as the source of best practice.  He noted that the Kent Utilities Engagement Sub-Committee was a positive new development that could be beneficial in other areas.  Mr Kent also highlighted the positive work of KCC Officers and the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport in maintaining good ongoing engagement with the relevant partners and that this supported the drive towards better communication and improved understanding.

14. Responding to a question from a guest attendee from another local authority, Ms Irgin and Mr Kent explained that water companies are expected to work with planning authorities through early discussions and effective information sharing.  It was noted that the legislation is not prescriptive regarding how this engagement should take place or which parties should be responsible for all relevant payments.  Ms Irgin explained that serious disputes in this area were caused by lack of communication, where conditions or charges had been imposed without prior discussion.  It was noted that the lack of detailed process requirements within the legislation led to issues such as the requirement to continue providing additional sewage connections despite ongoing flooding activity.  Mr Balfour commented that this issue was common across the utility sector due to the weak legislation but that better engagement was helping to identify solutions agreeable to all parties.

15. Members discussed the issue of long term sustainability in relation to water use.  It was noted that Mr Turner was working on this issue for KCC and the committee was reassured by Ms Irgin and Mr Kent that Ofwat and water companies were working toward ensuring a more appropriate and efficient use of water based on the needs of the customer.  This linked to consideration water purification practices, including the ongoing problem of micro-plastics which had been highlighted in a report on the impact of cosmetics waste which was due to be released later in 2017.

16. Mr Kent advised the committee that Southern Water was committed to improving communication and partnership work to allow for better service delivery, including development activity.  He re-iterated that the KCC’s work on engaging with utilities was positive and that it was useful to get more feedback relating to customer expectations and ways to improve communication with developers.  Mr Turner raised the idea of arranging single points of contact from water companies, developers and planning authorities.  Mr Kent referenced the Ebbsfleet development which had included good engagement activities with dedicated staff focused on making links with relevant partners.  Ms Irgin noted that some water companies used account managers to support engagement and liaison activities.

17. Members and guests agreed that the meeting had been very positive and that KCC should continue its work to support improved engagement between utility companies, developers and local authorities.

RESOLVED that the Committee thank Mr Kent for his useful presentation on Southern Water’s activities in Kent and for answering questions.