Governance and structure

Daniel has a background in water, farming and environmental policy as a senior civil servant at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.  During his time there he helped take the Flood and Water Management Act through Parliament, reformed how flood and coastal defence projects are funded in England, and helped write the ‘Health and Harmony’ agriculture white paper.

He also spent four years at the Climate Change Committee where his team compiled the first statutory reports to Parliament on preparing the country for climate change, and compiled the 2017 UK Climate Change Risk Assessment. He is a Director of the Aldersgate Group, ex-chair of the National Flood Forum and a CIWEM Fellow.

Ben is the Technical Director at Water Resources East, overseeing and steering the technical work programme associated with the development of the regional water resources plan. Ben joined WRE in October 2021 and is committed to helping to develop a multi-sector, integrated water management approach with WRE’s members and partners across the East of England.

Prior to this, Ben was an Associate Director at Wood Plc where he worked on a variety of water management projects with clients across the water industry, local authorities, the Environment Agency and Defra, and led a research consortium to enhance the understanding of future multi-sector water demand as an important part of the evidence base behind the Water Resources National Framework. Earlier in his career, Ben worked at the Environment Agency for over 10 years in various roles in water resources regulation and assessment, hydrology, and integrated environment planning, building his interest in the creation and use of tools and approaches that can lead to cross-functional work towards shared environmental and water management goals.

Barry is Operations Director at The Rivers Trust. Barry works across all areas of catchment management, but with an increasing focus on the integration of water resources activities within wider catchment management. Barry has been involved with Water Resources East since it started in 2004 and co-chairs the Catchment Based Approach Water Resources Working Group. Barry provides a key link between regional and catchment scale planning across the WRE region.

Steve currently leads the asset management capability within Affinity Water, having previously held asset management roles across infrastructure sectors and in client, contractor and consulting roles. Having started his career as a mechanical engineer, Steve remains curious about how our infrastructure works and how we can get more value from it. Described by his team as “ always impatient”, Steve admits to know a little about a lot of things which doesn’t stop him from having an opinion on almost everything asset related. Now responsible for carbon, sustainability and environment as well as his asset management duties, Steve is currently trying to bring these sometimes disparate agendas into a common approach that will challenge Affinity to think differently about the solutions they deliver.

Alternate: Liv Walton, Director of Regulation and Strategy

Lindsay Hargreaves has taken a close interest in water for agriculture over the past 25 years and has contributed to the shaping of UK water policy, firstly with the LEAPS (Local Environment Agency Plan) process, then CAMS (Catchment Abstraction Management Strategies) and latterly the implementation of the WFD (Water Framework Directive).

He is chairman of the River Lark Abstractors Group of which he has been a member since 1993. His farming credentials include over 30 years’ experience managing large farming enterprises in the Eastern Region, specializing in irrigated vegetable production.

He has a degree in Agriculture from the University of London, is a Nuffield Scholar, Fellow of Royal Agricultural Societies and Fellow of the Institute of Agricultural Management.

Driving the authority’s response to the climate challenge, Samantha leads a broad portfolio of services including waste, energy, flood resilience, green space, outdoor education, culture and heritage. She brings a wealth of experience with a career spanning leadership roles in central government, Transport for London and the Energy Saving Trust.

Alternate: John Meehan, Head of Sustainability and Resilience

Geoff is Head of Strategic Asset Planning at Anglian Water, accountable for developing, monitoring and reporting on strategic plans for water and wastewater infrastructure, for related evidence and advice, and for resource trading.

Prior to joining Anglian Water in 2017, Geoff spent 16 years in consultancy, advising on infrastructure climate risks and adaptation for international finance institutions, government departments, environmental agencies and utility companies.  This included directing creation of WRE’s first system model.

Geoff is a guest lecturer at the Universities of East Anglia and Sheffield and actively involved in research on future risks to water resources and the use of robust decision-making techniques in water and energy systems.  He is a frequently invited conference speaker; in 2024 he gave a TEDx talk on Water supply solutions for the 21st century.

Geoff has a PhD in hydro-climatology from UEA, is a Chartered Scientist, and a Fellow of CIWEM, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Meteorological Society.

Gill currently leads the UK Environment Team within RWE Generation. Gill has a wealth of experience in managing environmental issues and in working constructively with other companies, trade association working groups and Regulators on generic future-looking issues.

Gill is also currently Chair of the Joint Environment Programme (JEP) Management Group. The JEP is a co-funded programme of research into the environmental impacts of electricity generation, with the programme including work on the future water needs of our sector taking into account decarbonisation technologies such as hydrogen and CCS.

Alternate: Andy Moores, Water Policy Expert

Nathan leads the Environmental programme of work for the Oxford to Cambridge pan-Regional Partnership. As a Chartered Environmentalist and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, Nathan brings a rich body of knowledge and experience across environmental policy, sustainable development and sustainable communities, delivered principally across the public sector.

The pan-regional Partnership plays an important role at the interface between the Government and regional partners to deliver sustainable economic growth underpinned by a progressive environmental agenda guided by the Partnership’s Environment Principles.

Nathan has been previously responsible for delivering a range of front-line public services, from waste, street scene, and highway services to pollution control, water quality and flood risk, and ecological management, where he was a Director at the Humber Nature Partnership. Since 2015, Nathan has delivered a range of significant service transformation and culture change initiatives in the public sector. In 2017, he worked with IEMA and led its review of its Skills Map and membership pathways.

Paul’s role within Urban&Civic is as a project director for two of their flagship developments at Waterbeach, in Cambridgeshire, and the sustainable extension of Baldock, Hertfordshire, The role of water is fundamental to the future delivery of these schemes, and Urban&Civic are committed to being part of a partnership approach to solutions not just for these developments but across the region, to enable future sustainable growth.  Paul also has a deeply personal interest and focus on the wider water issue, with a background as a geographer, he spent many years working across public sector agencies as a planner to support best practice in thinking strategically about how and where to effectively deliver the right growth for the area, and to drive good practice from developers. Now working within the sector, he recognises the challenges and opportunities of how development must respond to the severity of the water challenge: from earliest design and discussion, through to cultural change for new communities, and driving change across a diverse supply chain in between

Judith Barker joined CPCA as the Executive Director of Place and Connectivity in January 2024.  She has considerable senior experience in partnership working, strategic and operational economic development and place shaping and has worked widely in the east of England.  She joined CPCA from Central Bedfordshire Council, having previously been the Director of Programmes and Governance at the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership where she was responsible for the funding delivery to implement the Economic Strategy and Local Industrial Strategy as well as working with the private and public sector partnership Board.  Previously she undertook numerous commissions, whilst self-employed, was a Head of Service at the East of England Development Agency and began her career in social housing and community regeneration.

Caroline has spent all of her career in the water sector, previously working for Severn Trent until she joined South Staffs Water in 2003. Caroline was appointed into the Executive Team of Cambridge Water in 2020, having previously been responsible for their successful PR19 submission, developing a business plan which delivers for their customers and the environment. She has extensive knowledge in asset management, business planning and strategy development.

Katie leads a diverse team within Northumbrian Water and Essex & Suffolk Water delivering long-term planning including Water Resource Management Plans and leakage strategy, tactical (medium to short term) investment planning, network analysis and Water performance insights. Katie has spent her career in the water industry in a variety of roles for Northumbrian Water, where she joined as a graduate, including valuable experience in construction project management, as an operational leader of water treatment across Essex, and in executive team project portfolio management and optimisation.