Tetney Blow Wells, Lincolnshire. Photo: Anglian Water
Latest Work
The paradoxical combination of increasingly frequent flooding and growing pressure on over-consumed water resources poses a genuine threat to current and future economic activity in the UK. The time is ripe for new players and new ways of thinking to come to the fore to directly contribute to our future resilience to water stresses.
The new phase of this collaboratory creates a shared business opportunity with multiple sectors by jointly considering the most efficient use of financial investments to implement solutions. The work will undertake to:
- bring together leading businesses that have both direct and indirect dependencies on water;
- develop understanding of the consequences of their business operations and dependencies on the water system;
- resolve the problems of access to water, water quality and situations when there is too much water; and
- develop the financing and planning regimes that are required to bring these solutions to fruition and testing these in a pilot study.
Innovation through Collaboration Report
The Sustainable Water Stewardship: Innovation through Collaboration report was launched in April 2013, recommending the next steps for business and government to better manage water resources. This report, sponsored by Anglian Water, is the culmination of Phase 2 of our collaboratory which brought together forward-thinking organisations, government and communities to explore better ways of managing and valuing water by pioneering and exploring innovative approaches.
Download Sustainable Water Stewardship: Innovation through Collaboration.
Planning Advice Note
A key deliverable of Phase 3 of the collaborator is the creation of an advice note for planners on integrated water management to ensure that water issues (at the strategic catchment level) in new developments are taken into account in local plans. This will ensure strategic water management objectives and outcomes are an integral part of the plan and are taken into account in deciding planning applications. The advice note is intended to support implementation of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and complement any planning guidance that may be issued by DCLG.
Download a summary of the advice note for planners on integrated water management. This document is available for comment; please contact Katie Hiscock for more information.
Pooling Innovation: New Approaches to Water Stewardship
Lord Selborne, who chaired the event, welcomes delegates and provides an introduction to the Water Stewardship Collaboratory
Over 100 experts and thought leaders from business, academia and government met at the Pooling Innovation: New Approaches to Water Stewardship event in early December 2012 to discuss innovative ways to address the challenges of sustainable water management.
The event, chaired by Lord Selborne, Treasurer, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Water, stimulated the dialogue around what leadership in water stewardship the public and private sectors can offer.
In the morning, three keynote speakers spoke on this topic, raising the need for a new generation of water stewardship and highlighting the importance of the collaboratory approach. The business and government viewpoints were wholly aligned, with government outlining the right framework to enable the action and collaborative opportunities for business.
Panel discussion – answering questions from participants around the subject of how the public and private sectors can take a leadership position on water stewardship
The afternoon stimulated lively and imaginative debate within four interactive breakouts around water allocation, behaviour change, regulation and planning, and finance. As well as discussing the key findings from each group, delegates engaged in identifying future steps for this work and innovative approaches to push the agenda forward.
The event concluded that we are just at the starting point with regards to bettering water stewardship and there is now an opportunity to continue building knowledge, collaboratively engaging with the public and private sectors to move from models into practice and action.
Speakers at the event included:
Lord Selborne, Treasurer, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Water
Peter Simpson, Managing Director, Anglian Water
Sonia Phippard, Defra, Director, Water Risk and Flood Management
Alan Knight, Environmental Sustainability Director, Business in the Community
Toby Willison, Environment Agency, Regional Director
Downloads
Download the Keynote Presentations.
Download the Working Group Chairs' Presentations.
Download the Planning and Regulation Handout.
Download the Overview of Finance Regulation and Planning.
Download the Structure of the Sustainable Water Finance Project.
Download the Water Allocation Report.
Download the Sustainable Water Stewardship: Innovation through Collaboration Report.
Contact
For more information on this event or the collaboratory please contact Gemma Cranston.
The steering group, which includes representatives of relevant government departments, regulatory bodies, non-governmental organisations, land owners, business and CPSL is chaired by Lord Selborne, GBE, FRS, Treasurer of the UK All Party Parliamentary Water Group.
The purpose of the steering group is to guide the activities of the three working groups to ensure a coordinated approach, to provide access to key policymakers and to help secure the necessary funding for subsequent action. It also ensures that the work of the Collaboratory is integrated with other relevant initiatives in order to identify possible synergies and avoid duplication.
Download a list of members of the steering group.
Each working group focuses on a key aspect of water stewardship.
Regulation, Planning and Finance
The Regulation, Planning and Finance working group, chaired by Professor Tim O’Riordan of the University of East Anglia, is exploring financial, regulatory and planning changes that will allow water to be fully valued and appropriately managed on a landscape basis. In particular, it is examining innovative funding mechanisms for landscape-based infrastructure projects involving water.
Read more about the Regulation, Planning and Finance working group.
Water Allocation
The Water Allocation working group, chaired by Jean Spencer and Martin Silcock of Anglian Water, is investigating how to establish fair and reliable methods of water allocation based on the real value of water to nature, society and the economy.
Read more about the Water Allocation working group.
Behaviour Change
The Behaviour Change working group, chaired by Amanda Long, CEO of Corporate Culture, is examining how to encourage a more holistic understanding by communities of the value of water that could bring about a reduction in both business and residential water use.
Read more about the Behaviour Change working group.
Download a context and evidence review which was conducted in January 2012.