Dumbo - John Prescott

[STEED]

Housing plans 'risk water shortage'
Press Association
Tuesday June 6, 2006 10:08 AM
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), led by John Prescott, has been criticised for failing to consider water shortage warnings when planning thousands of new countryside homes.
A powerful all-party House of Lords Science and Technology Committee said the Government had "failed to consider the water management implications of their house building plans at an early enough stage". They added in their Water Management report: "Along with the Environment Agency, they must ensure that the water companies' plans factor in what is bound to be a significant increase in demand."
Chairman Lord Selborne told a Westminster news conference there was "quite a muddle in what was then the ODPM and Defra, on the projections as to what the increased water demand would be, for example, in the Thames Gateway."
On former environment minister Elliot Morley, he said: "When he gave evidence to us, he misinformed himself as to what the consequences were for the increased water consumption.
"He thought it would be 0.1%, well it simply wasn't. As we teased the figures out it was 0.1% over a previous prediction. No wonder the water companies and the public don't have a lot of confidence in planning if some basic errors like this can happen.
Lord Selborne said the planning process took too long, an inevitable consequence of the consultation process, adding: "There were many meetings, but we didn't feel that the water companies themselves were sufficiently consulted. We felt that either they had failed to take the opportunity themselves or that the ODPM had failed sufficiently to take account of their own views. It would have been throughout his (John Prescott's) succession.
"Responsibility for water was at one time under the DETR (Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions) and then under ODPM, shared with Defra. But ODPM would have been John Prescott."
Liberal Democrat Baroness Sharp of Guildford added that the ODPM had "driven" the sustainable communities programme and the criticism was one of "inadequate consultation between departments over their plans".
The report also demands a major cutback in the "unacceptably high" level of leaks from water company pipes, alongside a more coherent and better-funded promotion of sensible water use among domestic and business consumers. The Government is urged to make it easier for water companies to have universal metering of customers, while providing extra help through the benefits system for people struggling to pay their bills.
The report reveals a "very high level" of unpaid water bills and says those people who can afford to pay but refuse to do so, should be partially disconnected from the water supply. At the root of the problem is the Government's failure to ensure properly integrated water management and the peers call for new regional boards, with greater consumer and environmental representation, to work out the best balance of measures for each part of the country.
© Copyright Press Association Ltd 2006, All Rights Reserved.

Well that's my water bill gone up 100% I better start investing in water and fast.