EA doing inspections – that’s a start Owl

www.bbc.co.uk

The findings come after the EA completed a record 10,000 inspections nationally in the last 12 months.

Helen Wakeham, EA’s director for water said: “Inspections are a vital preventative measure, with our teams nationally issuing over 3,000 actions to water companies, including repairing sewage works and upgrading their infrastructure.

“Together, this will drive meaningful improvements in performance, hold persistent offenders to account and ultimately create a cleaner water environment.”

The authority added that “although many breaches in permit conditions were relatively minor, in terms of potential for pollution to occur” they were “indicative of a water company’s approach to managing and maintaining their operations to protect the environment”.

Other issues identified at SWW found chopped sewage was at risk of flowing into water during storms, the discovery of seeping liquids, missing emergency pumps and generators, faulty monitoring equipment and general poor maintenance in places, resulting in blocked channels, overgrown vegetation and sludge.

‘Drive meaningful improvements’

The findings come after the EA completed a record 10,000 inspections nationally in the last 12 months.

Helen Wakeham, EA’s director for water said: “Inspections are a vital preventative measure, with our teams nationally issuing over 3,000 actions to water companies, including repairing sewage works and upgrading their infrastructure.

“Together, this will drive meaningful improvements in performance, hold persistent offenders to account and ultimately create a cleaner water environment.”

The authority added that “although many breaches in permit conditions were relatively minor, in terms of potential for pollution to occur” they were “indicative of a water company’s approach to managing and maintaining their operations to protect the environment”.

Other issues identified at SWW found chopped sewage was at risk of flowing into water during storms, the discovery of seeping liquids, missing emergency pumps and generators, faulty monitoring equipment and general poor maintenance in places, resulting in blocked channels, overgrown vegetation and sludge.

Labour’s mistaken belief that wicked nimby councils are holding back development lies at the root of Angela Rayner’s Local Government Reorganisation plan to reduce the power of local councils.

You do have to wonder why the July 2024 in-coming Labour Government wasn’t savvy enough to know that developers have always held the cards in controlling house build-out rates. Where were they coming from?

These “new data” spell it out yet again.- Owl

William Eichler www.localgov.co.uk

New data from the Local Councils Network (LCN) reveals a significant ‘build-out’ gap, with only 52% of homes granted planning permission since 2012-13 actually being completed.

Despite 62 surveyed councils approving over 633,000 units, only 331,300 have been delivered. Currently, more than 200,000 homes hold valid planning consent but have yet to see construction begin.

The LCN identifies four primary barriers to completion:

• Viability: Concerns over profitability and land values.

• Market Demand: Fluctuating buyer interest.

• Developer Behaviour: Strategic delays by landowners.

• Infrastructure Constraints: Lack of essential utilities like water and electricity.

Cllr Richard Wright, chair of the LCN, argued the findings prove the planning system isn’t the bottleneck. ‘Councils are approving twice as many homes as are built,’ he stated, calling for a focus on construction delivery rather than just increasing applications.

‘With construction never starting on hundreds of thousands of approved homes, even a modest improvement in build-out rates would make a significant contribution towards meeting national and local housing targets.’

He added: ‘Asking councils to approve even more housing applications, when we already approve about nine in every 10, is missing the point to a complex problem.’

Responding to the LCN’s figures, a spokesperson for the Home Builders Federation said: ‘Having spent years and significant amounts to get an implementable planning permission, developers would not sit on it and delay their only return on investment without very good reason.

‘The majority of these permissions will not yet be at the stage when builders are allowed to start work and will be stuck in the treacle of agreeing final details around planning conditions or highways with understaffed local authority departments.’