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Flood and Water Management Bill

We move into somewhat different territory here. This group of amendments concerns sustainable urban drainage. We are happy enough with the principle of agreed standards for sustainable drainage systems. However, I have tabled several amendments that seek clarification of how they will operate in practice. The Local Government Association in particular has made its concerns known that local authorities will end up bearing too much of the cost. I understand that the Government’s plan is that local authorities’ adoption and maintenance of sustainable urban drainage systems—the Minister has difficulty in defining this, but I have a little difficulty saying it; I think I will talk about SUDS—will be funded in part through the transfer of private sewers to water and sewerage companies, alleviating local authorities from the responsibility for investigating and dealing with problems. The LGA rejects Defra’s assumptions about the costs of private sewers. It explains that they are based on seven year-old data garnered from only 12 per cent of local authorities, and that they therefore create fundamental weaknesses in the impact assessments and need urgently to be reassessed. Although the transfer of private sewers to water companies may result in some savings for councils, those savings may amount to only a fraction of the savings suggested by Defra. Private sewers are the responsibility of private owners, and most of the smaller local authorities do not have large budgets or a significant number of staff to deal with them. We have therefore suggested in Amendment 68 that the Minister should not only set out clearly who will have responsibility for maintaining what systems but consult stakeholders to determine more accurately the costs that are likely to accrue. Amendment 78, which is also in this group, would put in place a sustainable funding system for SUDS before the Bill commences in full. Defra has thus far not confirmed how many people will be charged for SUDS in the long term. Some may view this as unfair and something that could even threaten the success of the SUDS system, as local authorities cannot be expected to take them if they do not know how they will be funded in future. The LGA has proposed a model for funding SUDS that will ensure that councils can be confident, when taking on the maintenance of SUDS, that their work will be sufficiently funded in the long term. The LGA’s concern with the Government’s preferred model is that local authorities are paid to deliver this function from grants, taxation or private sewer transfer savings. That is not sustainable; savings from private sewers will run out after eight years. It sees that as unfair. Taxpayers draining surface water to sewers would subsidise customers who drain surface water into SUDS. In addition, it is not a secure and expanding funding stream, so it does not provide incentives to authorities to expand the number of SUDS and might encourage the cheapest rather than the most appropriate, innovative or highest quality solution. Should SUDS maintenance be the responsibility of water and sewerage companies? Would that undermine the core agenda for flood risk management? The point of that agenda is surely to ensure that lead local authorities develop the local strategy, are responsible for this function and can be fully held to account through the scrutiny process. As a key part of the local management of surface water, giving water and sewerage companies responsibility over SUDS could undermine local authorities’ ability to deliver on a range of agendas. The Bill allows for local authorities to delegate the maintenance of SUDS to other operating authorities, including water and sewerage companies where appropriate. This offers choice without taking away the maintenance responsibility and allows authorities to delegate this function as a short or long-term measure. As the Minister realises, all our amendments in Grand Committee have to be probing, and we have tabled these amendments to elicit from him a clear guide as to how SUDS will work in practice. It would most helpful to have that on the record, and I beg to move.