Meeting held on 11 July 2023.

Changes to board of directors 

Hannah Stanley-Jones will be leaving Anglian Water at the end of September, with Dr Geoff Darch nominated as Anglian Water’s new board representative. The board and team thanked Hannah for her significant contribution to WRE over many years including as a board member since December 2022.  

A new IDB representative will soon be taking over from David Thomas as ADA’s nominated director. The board thanked David for ensuring that there has always been a strong IDB representation on the board and in the draft regional plan, and for his wider contribution to WRE. 

The open call for new non-executive directors launched in May resulted in a strong set of candidates coming forward for the vacant Stakeholder Director and Principal Funding Member posts. Meetings will be arranged over the summer with shortlisted candidates before firm recommendations are made to the board. Unsuccessful candidates have been notified. 

New members 

The following organisations were approved by the board to become standard members of WRE: 

• Independent Water Networks (IWNL): Independent Water Networks is an independent water company serving new housing and other developments across England and Wales. They are the largest new appointment and variations (NAV) company in the country, and have the same statutory duties and responsibilities as incumbent water companies including to produce water resource management plans.  

• Independent Networks Association: The Independent Networks Association represents the UK’s independent network operators for electricity, gas, water, and wastewater facilities. It is made up of Independent Gas Transporters (IGTs), Independent Distribution Network Operators (IDNOs) and New Appointments and Variations (NAVs).  

• Daveney Limited: Daveney Limited owns Barnham Broom Hotel, Golf and Spa – a luxury hotel in Norfolk with a significant land holding in the River Yare valley. Daveney Limited is exploring opportunities for new water storage and alternative sources of supply.  

Finances and cashflow 

The final report and accounts for the 2022/23 financial year were approved by the board of directors. WRE’s cashflow projections are positive and cash reserves have increased. The Norfolk Water Strategy Programme has received agreement in principle for further funding from both Anglian Water and Norfolk County Council for the next phase, and income toward other flagship projects is also increasing.  

The board approved an indicative operational budget of £727k for the 2024/25 financial year. This has been set early to allow existing Principal Funding Members to serve at least six months’ notice ahead of the new financial year if they wish to withdraw. The budget assumes principal funding members’ fees are held again at previous years’ rates. 

Water for Tomorrow closedown report 

The board discussed a final closedown report following completion of the Water for Tomorrow  (WfT) flagship project. This included details of the projected financial outturn with the final claim due to be paid by Interreg in December 2023.  Overall WfT is due to make a financial loss due to a number of factors, including a challenging exchange rate. However, the project had achieved its objectives and been very successful, the loss can be accommodated within WRE’s reserves and represents good value for the insights the project has generated.   A Board Focus Session is due to be held to discuss the technical outputs of the WfT project and other relevant studies underway in order to inform WRE’s future priorities. 

Draft Regional Plan: final consultation response 

Following comments on an earlier draft circulated by email, the board discussed the final draft version of the consultation response and approved it for publication. The consultation response was published in July. 

Update on the Final Regional Plan 

Following on from the Board Focus Sessions held in May, June and July, the team outlined their plans to update the modelling and analysis prior to finalising the regional plan this autumn. A new temporary strategic option was discussed that would help address an identified shortfall for Cambridge Water through a ‘reverse trade’ with Affinity Water and interim transfer from Anglian Water. The Board also discussed the agriculture and other sector studies that are underway and agreed to incorporate these into the final plan to bring out the multi-sector dimensions as far as possible. Ahead of the final plan, the focus will be to confirm low regret options and to demonstrate how the core plan performs under a range of future scenarios and could be adapted if need be. 

The board discussed recent developments including Ofwat’s publication of their final decision on the Accelerated Infrastructure Delivery Scheme and RAPID’s final Gate 2 decisions on the Fens and South Lincs Reservoirs. The final Gate 2 decisions indicate that 100% of the requested funding will be provided to allow the scheme promoters to progress to Gate 3 by September 2024. RAPID are expecting this increase in funding to result in more work to explore and catalyse system-wide benefits and opportunities resulting from the reservoirs being built. These will be brought back to the WRE board for discussion. 

The board agreed that a statement from WRE should be provided to regulators in early Autumn to confirm the shape of the final Regional Plan ahead of formal publication in December. This would allow regulators to assess the revised draft WRMPs from companies in light of the latest regional-scale proposals and ensure alignment.  

The board discussed a letter sent to water companies by the EA on behalf of the Defra Secretary of State to ask for further scenarios to be tested that would reduce potential risks to deliverability, financeability and affordability of WRMPs and WINEP proposals. The letter states that plans are appearing expensive in the current cost of living context and, although they are not requesting changes at the moment, they would like companies to test scenarios that might allow ambitions to be scaled back during AMP8. The board agreed that WRE should write to the EA to confirm the importance of investment in water resources infrastructure during AMP8, working closely with member water companies. 

The board asked WRE’s member water companies to provide further input on aspects of the final plan that regulators had challenged WRE to demonstrate in their consultation feedback. These aspects include demonstrating that the plan represents best value for all sectors; that the proposals for demand side action are as ambitious as they can be; that the potential to bring forward further cost-effective supply side options has been looked at extensively; that the environmental improvements are real and significant; and that the drought management strategies and levels of service are appropriate and acceptable. Input from companies will be summarised in time for the next board meeting in October and presented in the final plan. 

Draft WRE Business Plan for 2024-2028 

The board discussed a revised draft Business Plan given the current plan is due to expire at the end of this year.  The board recognised that the new draft once agreed may need to be reviewed again mid-cycle once the next National Framework for Water Resources is published (due in spring 2025) and conversations conclude with regulators about the future governance and funding of regional groups. The board agreed to present the draft Business Plan at the Strategic Advisory Group meeting on 11th July, and to share it with members and wider stakeholders for comment over the summer months before the board discusses it again in October.