Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to consult on making water companies statutory consultees on certain planning applications.

The Government committed during the passage of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 to consult on whether water companies should become statutory consultees on certain planning applications, and if so, how best to do this. The Secretary of State has since commissioned Sam Richards, to undertake an independent review of statutory consultees within the planning system, with the recommendations from this to be published in March 2024.

We remain committed to this consultation; which will be published later this year. Water companies must continue to engage local planning authorities on their applications at the right time so they can input effectively and not slow down the application process.