Will tougher regulations on water company bosses have any impact?

Forcing water companies to clean up their act is a hot topic at the moment and the mention of The Water (Special Measures) Bill in the King’s Speech was welcomed as a starting point to making this happen.

During the State Opening of Parliament, over 35 new Bills and draft Bills were announced to support the delivery of the new Labour Government’s first steps and missions.

The new Water (Special Measures) Bill aims to strengthen regulation, give the water regulator new powers to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met and increase accountability for water executives.

However, according to specialist commercial property lawyer, Nicola Sutton, the Bill needs to go further and more prosecutions are needed to make the kind of impact that is needed.

Nicola, a partner at national firm Clarke Willmott LLP, said: “As we know the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 has sought to force water companies to clean up their act and improve certain plant and equipment.

“This is essential to enable housebuilders, tasked with delivering much needed new homes, to ensure that the additional nutrients entering the waste water treatment works are capable of being treated by these water companies before surplus amounts enter the natural environment.

“The Kings Speech talked about how The Water (Special Measures) Bill will toughen up the regulations water companies are subject to with the aim of cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas.

“However, it seems that the Bill will not handle this directly but rather the use of fines and punishment will be utilised as a stick to encourage bosses to improve performance. To be a real threat and for this to really work the Environment Agency will need to increase its prosecutions to act as a real deterrent. To do that they will need more resources in terms of funding and manpower.

“The Bill is described as an ‘immediate first step’ so it remains to be seen whether the new Government will introduce further, more stringent measures as time goes on but we are hopeful. The topic continues to be a challenge for our housebuilder and developer clients.”