Water Management

Debate between Emma Hardy and Jonathan Davies

Thursday 10th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Emma Hardy]

I am hesitant to agree to something that is not in my brief, but I will certainly mention that to the Farming Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan).

The hon. Member for Taunton and Wellington is right that when we think about water management, we often talk about reservoirs; those are very much needed, and do matter, but so does managing water where it falls—thinking about roofs, streets, gardens, farms and developments. That is why we want a more practical, prevention-focused approach to water management that captures more water, wastes less of it and plans developments in a way that looks at local catchments.

[Jonathan Davies (Mid Derbyshire) (Lab)]

One thing that will benefit farmers in my constituency is the £50 million through the sustainable farming incentive to allow farms to build more water storage on their land. That is going to be of huge benefit, because their food stocks are down going into winter after the hot summer. We also have an issue with flooding. Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act has not been enacted, meaning that every development has a right to be connected to the drainage system, which increases the amount of flooding. If the Minister could take that forward with colleagues at MHCLG, I would be very grateful indeed.

[Emma Hardy]

On the point about farm reservoirs, my hon. Friend is correct. Today I held a meeting of the national drought group, and we had a focus on agriculture and the impact that drought has had on farmers. We are talking now about potential rain, El Niño and flooding, but drought is still here in this country. One of the conversations we had was, how can we support farmers to hold more of the water that comes down from the sky? We are focusing a lot on funding farm reservoirs, but we also need to think about filling farm reservoirs. How can farmers get them full for the summer, which we need, given our changing climate, with more rain in winter and drier summers?

I love SUDS—I get very geekily excited about sustainable drainage systems. I know I am shocking you, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I will try to convince you that they can be really nice, and they can be spaces for nature as well. I am not winning, am I?