Tabled updated added 11 October 2022

Before inviting Councillor Alastair Gould to speak on the motion, the Mayor said there had been some discussion at the Mayor’s briefing about whether motions should be read out in full.  He said that the Constitution Working Group should consider how motions were put forward and suggested that training and guidance on this could be provided.  He advised that Councillor Gould would read his motion out in full.

Councillor Gould read out the motion in full, as set out in the Agenda.  In proposing it, he said he hoped the motion would start to resolve some of the issues of water supply and treatment. Councillor Lee McCall seconded the motion and reserved his right to speak.

Members were invited to speak and made points including:

·         This was an excellent motion;

·         lack of investment had caused issues;

·         privatising public utilities, including water authorities, had led to a lack of accountability and public being let down;

·         profits had been prioritised instead of delivering on infrastructure;

·         gave examples of leaks in the borough, and lack of action by water companies;

·         agreed with the motion in principle but there was a danger that motions committed resources from SBC;

·         all groups were united in addressing the issues;

·         referred to providing necessary water infrastructure when considering housing development;

·         referred to the information within the tabled update from Southern Water Services (SWS) including how the costs of meeting water demands could not be met by Section 106 funding and would have to be met by an increase in water bills;

·         there were many different aspects of water supply and treatment that needed to be scrutinised as set out in the motion;

·         spoke of the compensation SWS had to pay to customers;

·         independent analysis and meaningful dialogue to address the risks of future planning was necessary;

·         spoke of how the supply of water impacted on agriculture; and

·         praised the research, information and detail that went into the motion and spoke in full support.

In summing up, Councillor Gould said the water motion had focussed mostly on the impact on the planning system but the need for enforcement, regulation and monitoring was also very important.

On being put to the vote, Members voted to agree the motion.

Resolved:

(1)  That the Leader of the Council makes a formal complaint to the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) over the recent outage of water supply on the Isle of Sheppey , covering both their handling of the emergency , and their failure to act to improve resilience of supply following the 2016 and 2017  outages

(2)  That the Leader of the Council writes to the CEO of Southern Water to notify them of this decision. A copy of this complaint should also be issued to the MP for Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey and the Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

(3)  That the Leader of the Council writes to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, asking him to review the legislation concerning the role of the statutory undertakers and utilities providers, in the local plan making process, to require them to give evidence at the public examination of the local plan of their ability to meet their obligations with regard to supplying proposed housing development, taking full account of the effect of climate change scenarios.

(4)  That the Planning and Transportation Policy Working Group be asked to consider commissioning an independent study into the sustainability of water supply to form part of the Infrastructure Delivery Plan for the Local Plan Review.

(5)  That the Council notes that residents are deeply concerned about the regular untreated wastewater discharges into our local rivers, estuaries and seas and the cumulative impact this is having on wildlife and on human health.

And that this Council:

(6)  Recognise this Council’s obligation to protect its rivers, estuaries and seas, including from the cumulative impacts of pollution, in line with its local planning policy and the National Planning Policy Framework.

 (7) Recognise that there is clear evidence of deterioration of water quality due to cumulative impact of multiple sewage discharge events or ‘sewage overload’.

(8)  Ensure that an evidence base is compiled that assesses the cumulative impact of sewage discharge so that this is factored into decisions made in new iterations of the local plan, including the overall level of future development, if necessary, independently from the evidence produced by the utility providers.

(9)  Seek to better understand the cumulative impact of wastewater discharge including untreated sewage on our local rivers, estuaries, wildlife and the health of our residents.

(10)  Takes a lead on addressing this issue, working constructively with other agencies.

(11)  Ask the Policy and Resources Committee to invite the Chief Executive of Southern Water plus senior representatives from the Environment Agency and Ofwat and Natural England to attend a meeting to answer questions on the current levels of CSO and sewage plant discharge, and to put pressure on Southern Water to stop all CSO discharges into chalk streams in and around Faversham (Cooksditch and Thorne Creek); asking why nutrient neutrality rules aren’t deemed to apply to water flowing from Faversham Creek into the Swale; and encouraging SW to upgrade the Faversham WTW to include tertiary water treatment so that it can either be recycled into the SEW water supply or else pumped back into the aquifer.

(12)  Ask Southern Water, from this date onwards, in its planning consultation responses for major development, to clarify which treatment works will be managing the sewage; whether it has the information available to assess the impact on the number or duration of sewage discharges into local rivers or seas, and if it does have this information to share it (noting that at present this can only be requested not required).

(13)  Request that planning officers, from now onwards, include in all reports relating to major development a specific section on the impact on watercourses, including the potential for the development to affect sewage outflow into watercourses (i.e. cumulative impact), or to flag if this information is not fully available, so that this information (or the lack of it) is clearly and transparently set out.

(14)  Requests that the Leader of the Council is asked to write to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, asking him to review the legislation concerning the role of the statutory undertakers and utilities providers, in the local plan making process, to require them to give evidence at the public examination of the local plan of their ability to meet their obligations to safely dispose of sewage from proposed housing development.

(15)  Requests that the Leader of the Council is asked to request the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to review the legislation concerning local plan reviews, so that in the event that the statutory undertakers and utilities providers are unable to provide adequate evidence that both supply of water, and effective wastewater treatment, are deliverable, this would be grounds for a deviation from the standard method of calculation for housing numbers.