Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with representatives of (a) Thames Water and (b) local authorities in west London on Thames Water's proposed planning application for the Teddington direct river abstraction.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Thames Water has a statutory duty to consult with local authorities and water regulators on its Water Resources Management Plan, a long-term strategy for securing water supplies. The plan is further assessed by Government and water regulators before it can be finalised. The Teddington Direct River Abstraction (DRA) is part of this plan, and following robust review, the Secretary of State issued a direction on 22 December 2023 confirming the project is nationally significant.
However, this does not indicate that a Development Consent Order (DCO), which is required before construction can proceed, is more or less likely to be approved. When a DCO application is made, local authorities will have a key role in providing a local perspective on the proposals.
Dec. 29 2023
Source Page: Thames Water Teddington direct river abstraction: Section 35 Direction, Planning Act 2008Found: Thames Water Teddington direct river abstraction: Section 35 Direction, Planning Act 2008
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many licences for abstraction in chalk streams have been rescinded in each year since 2010.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A total of 110 licences affecting chalk streams have been revoked since 2010. A further 158 have been varied or reduced.
The abstraction licence changes have returned over 37 billion litres of water per year to chalk catchments and prevented a further 110 billion litres per year being abstracted.
Number of abstraction licences, affecting chalk streams, that have been changed up to 30.09.23 | |||
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Year | Number of licences varied or reduced | Number of licences revoked | Total |
2010 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
2011 | 2 | 10 | 12 |
2012 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2013 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
2014 | 14 | 6 | 20 |
2015 | 30 | 5 | 35 |
2016 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
2017 | 24 | 45 | 69 |
2018 | 43 | 16 | 59 |
2019 | 5 | 12 | 17 |
2020 | 9 | 5 | 14 |
2021 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
2022 | 1 | 1 | |
2023 | 10 | 3 | 13 |
Total | 158 | 110 | 268 |
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to respond to Thames Water's s35 application for its Teddington Direct River Abstraction proposal.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Thames Water have requested that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs gives a direction under Section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 for the Teddington Direct River Abstraction. The Secretary of State will respond to Thames Water in line with the statutory timeframe required.
Dec. 29 2023
Source Page: Thames Water Teddington direct river abstraction: Section 35 Direction, Planning Act 2008Found: Thames Water Teddington direct river abstraction: Section 35 Direction, Planning Act 2008
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the selection of the Teddington direct river abstraction proposal, what investigations they expect Thames Water to undertake regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the water courses in England and Wales, with particular reference to treated effluent at Mogden Sewage Treatment Works, further to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA concerning connections between women diagnosed with some hormonally driven cancers and exposure to certain PFASs in household and industrial products.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
For Teddington direct river abstraction proposal to be taken forward Thames Water will be required to obtain an abstraction licence and permit to discharge from the Environment Agency. These set out the conditions under which abstraction is authorised to take place and the standards to which the discharged effluent must be treated, ensuring it is treated to a high standard to meet environmental and human health quality standards. The Environment Agency regulates discharge permits by assessing the quality of the effluent discharged against set compliance limits. Thames Water will need to undertake any investigations necessary to meet those regulatory requirements.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to end the over-abstraction of water supplies by water companies; what deadlines have been set for the end of such over-abstraction; and what plans they have made to restore levels of over-abstracted reservoirs.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Plan for Water sets out the actions we are taking to make abstraction sustainable. Since we published our abstraction plan (see attachment) in 2017, the Environment Agency has reduced damaging abstraction by returning 48 billion litres of water a year to the environment and removed the risk to the environment of the potential abstraction of 1.9 trillion litres of water.
Water companies are told by the Environment Agency about what abstractions are deemed unsustainable through the Water Industry Environment Programme (see attachment) and the statutory water resources management plans (see attachment) and take action to remove or reduce these abstractions. In some cases, removal or reduction of abstraction licences will reduce the security of water supply for people and businesses, so water companies will have to take appropriate steps to reduce demand or develop new supplies of water to ensure they can still provide water supplies.
The deadlines water companies are given vary, as some may require investigations into the level of reductions required. The Plan for Water shows water companies have to take action to reduce a gap between how much water they could supply when compared to future demand. The gap is 4 billion litres of water per day, which includes reductions in abstractions to protect the environment and accounts for the impacts of climate change on water sources. Water companies have recently produced new water resources plans showing how they will address this gap and the Environment Agency has produced a summary of how water companies (see attachment) will increase supply and reduce demand over the next 25 years.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps the Environment Agency and Ofwat will take following the Teddington direct river abstraction proposal to ensure that Thames Water meets its obligations, given its Strategic Environmental Assessment directive and failure to present an environmental report or to allow the public an opportunity effectively to express their opinion about it.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Proposals for Teddington direct river abstraction need to follow the statutory Water Resource Management Plan (WRMP) process, which includes the requirement for a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Thames Water published its draft WRMP in December 2022 with a 12-week public consultation period. Thames Water received 80 representations specific to Teddington from stakeholders and the public. The company has recently published a statement of response outlining how it plans to address the points raised.
The feasibility of Teddington is also being investigated in more detail as part of a London Reuse strategic resource option (SRO). The investigation into the feasibility of this SRO along with another 17 across the country is managed by RAPID (Regulators Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development) which is a partnership that is made up of the three water regulators Ofwat, Environment Agency and Drinking Water Inspectorate. The investigation process is split into ‘gates’ and at each gate the SRO is required to publish evidence based Environmental Assessment Reports. London Reuse published its Gate 2 reports in winter 22/23 allowing a 6-week window for public consultation.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what range of impact assessments they expect Thames Water to provide regarding the consequences for local wildlife habitats arising from construction of their proposed Teddington direct river abstraction on green spaces categorised as Metropolitan Open Land, such as Ham Lands and Moormead Park in St Margaret’s.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Thames Water is required to provide further assessments through the RAPID (Regulators Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development) gated planning process to ensure that all potential impacts of the Teddington direct river abstraction (DRA) scheme are assessed and investigated, including any impacts on green spaces. The design and location of elements of the scheme are still at the conceptual design stage of development. Any scheme developed will have to meet environmental and planning requirements. The suite of assessments required will depend on the final design of the scheme and nature/location of impacts which are expected to be identified through the Gate 3 planning process.
The proposed Teddington DRA is expected to take the Development Consent Order planning route, which will require an Environmental Impact Assessment of the scheme’s impacts as part of the planning process. Where possible we expect environmental enhancements to be included in the scheme design.
Mentions:
1: None Declares extreme concern regarding Thames Water’s proposed scheme to build the Teddington Direct River Abstraction - Speech Link
2: None Minister Robbie Moore met with Munira Wilson and Sarah Olney to discuss the Teddington Direct River Abstraction - Speech Link
3: None As set out in our plan for water, there is a need for water industry action to improve resilience of - Speech Link
4: None Thames Water’s plan meets the water company’s obligations before Thames Water can finalise its plan. - Speech Link