15 Mar 2023

The water sector needs to take creative new approaches to the challenges facing it, rather than just do the same things a bit better or cheaper, according to James Heath, chief executive of the National Infrastructure Commission. Heath highlighted the sector’s challenges as down to “too much, too little and too dirty water”. He said […]

15 Mar 2023

The directors of strategy and policy at UK Infrastructure Bank outline case for investing in large-scale natural capital projects. The word infrastructure commonly conjures up images of steel and skyscrapers, roads and railways, cranes and concrete… but increasingly it is being applied to a softer, greener landscape as we re-evaluate what we want to prioritise […]

08 Feb 2023

On 1 Feb, Lib Dems tabled an amendment to the UK Infrastructure Bank Bill, which has just been passed in the House of Commons, with the Government standing down their opposition to our campaign. The amendment ensures that the Government’s new Infrastructure Bank will not invest in water companies unless they produce a costed and […]

08 Feb 2023

Major water projects could be fast tracked through planning under Government plans to reform the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime. On 25th January, Michael Gove, secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, told Parliament that his department is working with Defra, BEIS, Treasury and the Department for Transport on modernising the approach […]

18 Nov 2021

The National Infrastructure Commission has announced the topics that will sit at the heart of its next major assessment of the UK’s long term infrastructure priorities, to be published in 2023, following analysis of the current performance of key sectors. The priorities include a study on improving asset management within the flood protection, water and wastewater sectors. The baseline […]

03 Jun 2021

Guardian ‘ Conservation watchdog given boost after decade of funding cuts that left it at ‘crisis point’ Natural England, the government’s conservation watchdog, is to receive a 47% increase in government funding this year as its role expands to support a “green recovery” and provide environmental scrutiny of the government’s controversial “Project Speed”. The dramatic […]

09 Feb 2021

Scottish Government has identified the need to improve how we manage surface water in Scotland. The Programme for Government: Protecting Scotland’s Future – The Government’s Programme for Scotland 2019-20 contains commitments to work together to increase Scotland’s use of blue-green infrastructure for drainage and flood management and to review our approach to blue-green cities and […]