Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the infrastructure in Northumberland has the capacity to handle waste sewage and drainage water.

Through the Environment Act 2021 drainage and sewerage management planning is a statutory duty for sewerage undertakers. Each sewerage undertaker must prepare, publish, and maintain a drainage and sewerage management plan (DSMP). DSMPs will set out how water and wastewater companies intend to extend, improve, and maintain a robust and resilient drainage and wastewater system.

The Environment Agency is currently working with Northumbrian Water to review the options for the Drainage Wastewater Management Plan, which should be published in draft form by June 2022, with a final draft to be published in 2023.