Organised by the Westminster Sustainability Business Forum
and by Policy Connect, this seminar – entitled Bricks and Water; How do we build resilient communities? – was held
at Portcullis House on Westminster Bridge. I had been invited by the CEO of
Policy Connect, Jonathan Shaw and with a very interesting list of speakers on
offer I duly made my way down to Parliament Square along with the Thames Warden-Elect,
Rob Casey. Unfortunately, the event coincided with a massive anti-Trump demonstration
so there was a very heavy police presence and security was extremely thorough.
Once inside we made our way to the Attlee Suite and took our
places with 60 or so other guests. Chaired by Baroness McIntosh the seminar was
designed to examine the very real concerns about water resources and efficiency
that had been highlighted in the Bricks
and Water report published last year. The continued pressures on water
efficiency, flood mitigation and urban green space conspire to make this
subject highly topical and potentially extremely worrying. Assembled before us
was an impressive array of speakers including the Rt Hon Luke Pollard, MP;
Rachel Fletcher, CEO of Ofwat; John Curtin, Executive Director at the
Environment Agency; Peter Simpson, CEO of Anglian Water Group and Chris Stark,
Climate Change Committee member. All of them spoke with great passion about the
need for change and the processes by which this could be achieved. Space does
not allow for all the various themes to be set out here but further details can
be found by visiting the Policy Connect website at www.policyconnect.org.uk/wsbf
After a lively Q&A session from the floor, the event was
closed by Jonathan Shaw who summarised the key points. A very interesting debate
and one that the Water Conservators can contribute to going forward. We are
highly relevant in this space and the Company will continue to develop links with
industry, regulators, legislators and other stakeholders to ensure that water
and waste are managed and conserved for generations to come.
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