In recent days I’ve met both the Environment Agency and the new CEO of South East Water (SEW) to deepen my understanding of the water supply situation in SEW’s ‘Zone 4 West’ (also known as WRZ4-W), which includes part of Alton and Four Marks / Medstead as well as towards Basingstoke. This follows SEW’s comment to the Basingstoke & Deane Local Plan about sufficiency of supply for large-scale new development, as well as East Hampshire District Council’s decision to pause housing application determinations pending clarification from statutory consultees, which includes the Environment Agency and Natural England.
The issue, I understand, is very different from the well-documented recent issues in Kent and is to do with the amount of water abstraction rather than (as in Kent) limitations on water treatment capacity. Clearly, more should have been done before now. The anticipated pipeline from the Surrey Hills needs to materialise and I was clear with SEW that we need to be given full confidence on that. We await a decision from the Planning Inspector on SEW's appeal to continue abstraction from the sensitive Greywell Fen source in the meantime, as well as confirmation of the capital works plans. This needs to include a firm deadline for delivery of the pipeline (and SEW needs to be held to account by the regulator to meet this deadline). I will update residents when I know more.
You may have seen maps published of what is in and what is not in WRZ4-W and this may have raised questions about particular places or particular proposed housing development sites. My understanding is that the implications are not quite so hard and fast as suggested by lines on a map since it is always possible to pipe water from one place to another, including the short distance from Zone 4 East (which also covers Alton) to WRZ4-W, for example.
I must stress that in any event I do not know of reason to be concerned about supply sufficiency for current needs, though localised issues about water pressure of course must be addressed (and I raised a number of local examples with SEW). But it is vital that there is a credible deliverable plan for required new supply infrastructure to be in place before new demands are put on this most essential of services. That requires not only a plan but the commitment and the financial resourcing to put the plan in place. I continue to follow this closely.
Pictured above with John Halsall (CEO, South East Water) and Colin Martin (stakeholder officer, SEW).
