The project has three parts. Today s conference is the second part, and the third will be a strategy document that will certainly cover the County Council, and hopefully engage many other partners. The Comprehensive Review served to illustrate the complex administrative situation for water, with three of the eight Environment Agency regions, six water companies, and various other regulatory bodies operating in Hampshire. The document concluded that the county s water environment is generally in a good state, although there are one or two pressure points. But there is no room for complacency with pressures from development, climate change, and the vast increase in small households.
Planning has an important role.
At a national level we have 26 PPGs, which between them make hardly any reference to water. A new PPG on flooding is imminent, but it won't cover the wider water environment. At a regional level, the Crow Report recognised we should encourage planning for water. However, it also concluded that where social and economic considerations are more important, it s simply up to the water companies to get on with it and do their job cheerfully. It has a section on water supply and water quality but, though good on ideas, it avoids the practicalities.