Thames Water

Baroness Boycott Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

We do not want to put this on to consumers, because it just does not seem to be the right approach. The noble Lord is absolutely right that serious investment needs to take place in the water industry, not just in the south-east but right across the country. Every water company, whether it is United Utilities in the north or South East Water in the south, needs to get a grip on investment to ensure that its infrastructure is absolutely fit for the future. Where that investment comes from is something that will be discussed further, I am sure, with Ofwat.

[Baroness Boycott (CB)]

My Lords, picking up on what the noble Baroness said about reservoirs, at the launch of the CCC adaptation report the other day, many people were saying that we were not going to get the next reservoir for another 10 years and that the schedule of reservoirs was extremely slow. Can the Minister update the House on where we are with building new reservoirs, especially as we are going into dramatically warmer temperatures in the world at the moment?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

The Government are very keen to crack on with building new reservoirs, which are an absolutely critical part of the infrastructure we need for the future. One reason for bringing in the Planning and Infrastructure Act was to look at how we can speed up planning for nationally significant infrastructure projects, because one reason we do not have any new reservoirs is problems with major projects. The whole purpose of that Act was to speed this up. I do not know whether 10 years is an accurate figure: I would hope that we could crack on more quickly than that.