You are here:

ARCHIVE: Water resources planning: Hearings and Inquiries

The Secretary of State concluded that there are issues in three of the draft plans that should be given further consideration at a public inquiry/hearing.

South East Water

The following letters were sent to the relevant parties, outlining the requirements and timings for the inquiry into South East Water’s Plan.

A date and venue for the inquiry were agreed and the letters below sent to stakeholders.

The Statement of Common Ground between South East Water and the Environment Agency was published and can be accessed here. South East Water and the Environment Agency published their statements of case and, though not required by the Guidance, the Environment Agency provided comments on South East Water’s statement of case, to which South East Water responded. Statements prepared by other groups can be accessed here.

Defra submitted its briefing (PDF 210 KB) to the Inspector for the inquiry, which covered the issues it wanted him to consider at the inquiry. Following the inquiry, the Inspector produced his report (PDF 1 MB) and Defra issued its decision letter (PDF 80 KB) and Direction (PDF 15 KB) requiring changes to be made to the draft Plan. South East Water has now published its final Plan.

See also the Programme Officer's page covering administrative issues on the South East inquiry.

Thames Water

The following letters were sent to the relevant parties, outlining the requirements and timings for the inquiry into Thames Water’s Plan.

A date and venue for the inquiry were agreed and the letters below sent to stakeholders. The inquiry is a public event which anyone may attend.

The Statement of Common Ground between Thames Water and the Environment Agency was published in March 2010 and can be accessed on the Thames Water website. A revised Statement, setting out areas subsequently agreed between the two parties, was published in May 2010.

Thames Water also agreed a Statement of Common Ground with Ofwat, this was published on Thames Water’s website in March 2010.

Thames Water and the Environment Agency published their statements of case as did other stakeholders. The deadline for receipt of stakeholders’ statements of case was 16 March.

Defra submitted its briefing (PDF 200 KB) to the inquiry Inspector, which covers the issues it wanted her to consider at the inquiry.

See also the Programme Officer's page covering administrative issues on the inquiry.

Following the inquiry, the Inspector produced her report (PDF 2.2 MB) and Defra issued its decision letter (PDF 80 KB), telling Thames that it first needed to determine what further work is needed for the Plan before writing further with the Secretary of State’s directions.

Thames commented on the proposed further work (PDF 540 KB), following which Defra has now written to Thames Water (PDF 120 KB) and enclosed the detailed work to be undertaken (PDF 200 KB).

Portsmouth Water

The following letters were sent to the relevant parties, outlining the requirements and timings for the hearing into Portsmouth Water’s Plan.

The updated Statement of Common Ground between Portsmouth Water and the Environment Agency was published. Following which, Portsmouth Water published its hearing statement and the Environment Agency its comments on the statement, for which on the 30 March the Agency published an erratum (PDF 30 KB). Portsmouth Water’s response to comments from stakeholders is on its website.

The Inspector then examined the papers and concluded that Portsmouth’s Plan should be the subject of an inquiry. Since then, Portsmouth Water has updated its draft Plan and taken the option to start the water resources management process from the start. It will shortly be consulting on its updated draft.

Page last modified: 19 May 2011