22 Jan 2025

Progress towards improving the environment has slowed with government still largely off track in achieving its legal environmental commitments, the latest annual assessment by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has found. The OEP report provides an assessment of progress towards legally-binding environment targets, commitments and goals. The report covers the period 1 April 2023 […]

21 Aug 2024

According to The Guardian, the Environment Agency is planning to amend the Environmental Performance Assessment, tightening the rules to stop water companies from using the current highest four-star ratings to justify high CEO pay. The newspaper says that bosses presiding over companies found to “recklessly” discharge sewage have been able to justify their large pay packets because of being […]

13 Aug 2024

A Conservative minister repeatedly tried to stop England’s environment regulator from publishing data showing a sharp rise in recorded sewage spills into waterways, according to emails obtained by Unearthed. The Environment Agency (EA) is obliged by law to publish annual statistics on how often overflow pipes released sewage into rivers and seas, and how long the […]

23 Jul 2024

The Environment Agency (EA) has published its annual report on the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies during 2023. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has published a similar report for Welsh companies. The EA report shows an improvement in star ratings under the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), but the majority of companies continue to […]

21 Feb 2024

Thames Water has revised its downgraded some of its commitments to customers. The company has published a Service Commitment Plan update. It says that, despite some areas of performance improvement (including complaints and internal sewer flooding), the company’s original turnaround plan has not delivered the necessary improvements as quickly as hoped. The Guardian has picked […]

21 Feb 2024

The Welsh Parliament’s Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee has published a report making a series of recommendations to support improved performance at Welsh Water. Although there are mitigating factors including climate change challenges, the committee found the company to be “barely treading water when it comes to delivering for its customers and the environment. […]

26 Sep 2023

Ofwat has published the Water Company Performance Report 2022-23. It looks at the performance of the 17 largest water and wastewater companies in England and Wales across a set of key performance and expenditure metrics. According to Ofwat, “Under-performance by the majority of water and wastewater companies in England and Wales, will mean companies have […]

13 Jul 2023

A summary of the environmental performance of the 9 water and sewerage companies operating in England. Environment Agency Chair calls the performance “very disappointing”, with “minimal improvement in star ratings compared to 2021”. The Environment Agency says that, for 2022, the main performance messages for the sector are: 5 water companies are rated as requiring […]