Water shortages could threaten new housing developments across the UK in the coming years unless urgent action is taken, according to a leading lawyer.
In an attempt to “get Britain building again”, the Government has pledged to deliver 1.5 million homes across the country in its first five-year term – the highest level of output since 1977.
But the ambitious targets will not be met unless there is action to address the issue of water neutrality – the principle that a new development should not result in an increase in the total demand for water from the public supply.
That is the view of Nicola Sutton, a partner in the commercial property team at national law firm Clarke Willmott, who advises numerous developers, housebuilders and landowners in the residential housebuilder market.
“To achieve water neutrality, new developments must first minimise their own water consumption through efficiency and re-use and then offset any remaining water demand by funding projects that save an equivalent amount of water elsewhere in the local area,” she says.
“It is often implemented in areas where development could put pressure on water resources, particularly near environmentally sensitive habitats, such as the Arun Valley in West Sussex.
“A four-year moratorium on new development in this area has only recently been lifted after Natural England ruled in 2021 that groundwater abstraction by Southern Water may be harming internationally protected habitats in the local area.
“This effectively halted the approval of applications for any new development that required water in an area taking in parts of Horsham, Crawley, Chichester and the South Downs, unless they could demonstrate water neutrality. This has now been reversed, so that around 4,000 homes that were stalled for four years can now proceed, with a further 17,000 having been effectively unlocked.”
Nicola Sutton says that more stringent measures may be needed in order to address the scarcity of water for new residential schemes in future.
“This is one of the biggest challenges that developers – and local authorities – will face in the coming years and it casts more doubt on the Government’s ability to deliver on its ambitious housebuilding targets.
“We may be facing a situation whereby there is not enough water to cater for new housing developments, particularly in the south of England, which may mean the imposition of limits on the amount of water usage per household through the building of more water efficient homes.”
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Nicola Sutton is a partner in the commercial property team at Clarke Willmott. She advises developers, housebuilders and landowners in relation to a broad spectrum of residential development legal issues in the residential housebuilder market.
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