Government consultation on developing a National Policy Statement for Water Resources and proposals to amend the definition of nationally significant water infrastructure in the Planning Act 2008.

Government has stated that "Without further action, parts of England will face a gap between demand for water and available supplies."

"Achieving a step change in drought resilience will require ambitious action to reduce demand for water and the development of new water resources at both a regional and national scale."

To begin to address this, a new national policy statement for water resources is proposed and is currently being consulted on. This is timely given the current water resource situation in Hertfordshire and the increased pressures our rivers will face from population growth, development and climate change.

The consultation can be found here.