New Local Plan

We note the plan identifies the need for 18,000-24,000 new homes and 10,000-12,000 new jobs over a 20 year period, and a HELAA has been produced as part of the new evidence to support the local plan. Although we do not have an opinion on broad growth rates across the Borough, we will provide our opinion going forward relating to growth locations and our infrastructure provision. We recognise the local plan is in its infancy and has not yet begun to allocate sites, but we would like to offer our support to the council by conducting a high level assessment using shape files which will identify assets crossing sites. This information will also help inform our asset investment plans which will ensure we fulfil our duty as the statutory water undertaker in the Borough. We are happy for the council to contact our planning team directly to discuss the file types we would require for this assessment to take place, if the council would like strengthen the evidence base.

We would like to reiterate our response from Question 1.4. We recognise the local plan is in its infancy and has not yet begun to allocate sites, but we would like to offer our support to the council by conducting a high level assessment using shape files which will identify assets crossing sites. This information will also help inform our asset investment plans which will ensure we fulfil our duty as the statutory water undertaker in the Borough. We are happy for the council to contact our planning team directly to discuss the file types we would require for this assessment to take place, if the council would like strengthen the evidence base.

The Local plan identifies “digital, cultural and creative; healthcare technology; advanced manufacturing and engineering; and tourism sectors” as the key growth drivers within the Borough. Generally, we do not have an opinion on how land should be allocated for employment sites. However, local plans do not offer foresight with regard to specific major water users coming forward within the plan period, due to the breadth of employment land uses within the Use Classes Order. In addition, it is not always possible to predict exactly what will happen in the future, as has been demonstrated with the change to the economic climate in recent years. Consequently, it is difficult to predict what the demand on water supply will be. We therefore wish to work closely with the council going forward, particularly if large water users propose to develop employment sites, in order to ensure there is adequate water supply to facilitate the proposal and meet the vision of the council.

We note the supporting text refers to the “increased use of sustainable technologies should also be incorporated wherever possible”. Essex and Suffolk Water actively promote water efficiency and we offer a discount to developers that design and build houses to promote a lower consumption of water. Essex and Suffolk Water shall waive the water infrastructure charge if evidence is provided to show a house is to be built to achieve a consumption of no more than 105 litres per person per day. This can be found in our charges scheme at: https://www.eswater.co.uk/developers/our-charges.aspx
We hope the council will seek to explicitly include a policy that will promote the use of technologies to reduce water consumption too.

We are pleased to note the council have set out a chapter relating explicitly to climate change at this early stage. We would like to re-emphasise the importance of water efficiency standards in new developments, as highlighted in our response to question 8.5, and hope the council will seek to explicitly include a policy that will promote the use of technologies to reduce water consumption.

As the statutory water provider it is our duty to ensure that appropriate infrastructure is in place to serve future domestic development. Essex and Suffolk Water has a large capital investment programme for both of the regions which operates in 5 yearly cycles known as Asset Management Plan periods (AMPs). The next AMP period is from 2020 to 2025, and includes an element of flexibility to enable network reinforcement which may be required to facilitate new development. We will work with the council going forward to help inform any additional plans or policy to support the delivery of the council’s vision and encourage the council to contact us regarding our ongoing support.