Water authorities being made statutory consultees to planning applications is something I called for during the debate I led in Parliament on sewage discharges last autumn. I have also engaged on this during my discussions locally on sewage pollution with Southern Water and the Environment Agency.

During a debate on the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill last December, the Government stated that it would consult on whether to make water companies statutory consultees for large planning developments, and if so, how best to do that.

I have continued to follow-up on this with the Department for Levelling Up and you can find the response I have recently received about this from Rachel Maclean MP, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, here.