Member

What we have to recognise at the moment, particularly in the context of the Bill, is that the planning process as it currently exists does not address water infrastructure early enough. The fact that in England developers have the automatic right to connect surface water arising from new homes to the public sewerage system, irrespective of whether it has capacity for it, is a grave error. Just the one simple action of implementing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 would end this automatic right to connect and provide a framework for the approval and adoption of sustainable drains, paving the way for their widespread use. As it stands, even with the national standards that were adopted by the Government this year, SUDS are still being used inconsistently and the risk of surface water flooding is increasing significantly. That is why, in my view, it is vital that we adopt Amendments 197 and 198 into the Bill.