Our crucial role in development planning

Since 2016, we have been a Statutory Consultee in the planning process in Wales, following the introduction of legislative changes that placed water and sewerage matters as key considerations in the new development process.

But what does that involve? Well, when someone applies to a local planning authority to build, they’ll ask us what we think and whether our existing network has the capacity to support the new development. We’ll also consider the physical impact on our networks and whether the proposals affect our ability to access and maintain our systems safely. It’s worth noting that while we comment on water and sewerage matters, we aren’t ultimately responsible for planning decisions, as that responsibility rests with the local authority.

Our focus is balancing supporting the new development and growth within our operational area with protecting the environment and the service we provide to our existing customers. Here at Welsh Water, we have many teams working together to help our developers connect to our systems safely, whether it’s a resident planning an extension or a large housebuilder planning a new site of several hundred homes. Connecting new homes also helps us as it increases revenue streams – allowing us to spread the cost of operating, maintaining and investing in our assets across a wider customer base.

This year we responded to over 7,300 planning application consultations in Wales, right from single house builds through to large sites of multiple homes. We only raised concerns to 44 which represents just 0.6% of all consultations. Furthermore, collaborative working has meant that many of the issues and concerns have been overcome by us closely working with the developers and local authorities, to come up with solutions that enable development to happen, whilst not harming our ability to provide clean drinking water and take away wastewater safely.

That isn’t to say we don’t recognise the challenges we’ve got at the moment, including the use of combined storm overflow pipes – which are essential to preventing properties from suffering internal sewer flooding during storms - and phosphate levels in riverine Special Areas of Conservation.

We recognise our important and privileged role in supporting economic prosperity in Wales and the adjoining parts of England which we serve. As always, we ensure that we are investing around a million pound a day in our network and part of this is to ensure it’s responsive to future growth and development.

We also know that collaboration ultimately underpins the entire planning process, as we need to work closely with - and fairly represent the interests of - local authorities, developers, environmental organisations such as Natural Resources Wales, but most importantly the customers and communities we already serve.

If you’re looking to speak to one of our team about a new development, contact us on 08009172652, developer.services@dwrcymru.com or visit our website here for more information.

By Owain George, Head of Development Planning at Welsh Water.