South West Water, Bristol Water and Bournemouth Water have presented their business plan for the period 2025-2030, featuring £2.8bn of investment and an increase of 2,000 jobs in the region, to South West MPs in Westminster.
The water company held a reception at the House of Commons on Monday [16 October]. Senior representatives, including Chief Executive Susan Davy, explained how the plan, The Right Deal for Right Now, will meet the needs of the region over the next five-year period.
Driving economic growth whilst highlighting parent company Pennon’s commitment to its customers, communities, and the environment are the main challenges the company are tackling, head on.
Developed in collaboration with over 30,000 customers and 1,000 stakeholders, the plan continues to focus on the company’s four key priorities:
Investing in Water Quality and Water Resilience
Tackling Storm Overflows and Pollution
Delivering for Customers and Addressing Affordability
Reaching Net Zero and Enhancing Environmental Gains
The plan will see enhanced investment in new treatment works and reservoirs while keeping bills as low as possible for customers, with a commitment to eradicating water poverty. The plan also commits to eliminating storm overflows at bathing and shellfish waters, and achieving net zero, by 2030.
The cross-party Westminster reception featured Steve Double, former Water Minister and Member of Parliament for St Austell and Newquay, the Rt Hon George Eustice, former Environment Secretary of State and Member of Parliament for Camborne and Redruth, and Pennon Group Chief Executive, Susan Davy.
Steve Double MP, said: “It was a pleasure to attend the launch of Pennon’s PR24 business plan submission in Parliament. As regional MPs it is vital that we are working closely with the water company to ensure that they are making the improvements we all want to see, and protecting the environment. I am reassured by their plans and looking forward to seeing them implemented in the months and years to come.”
The Rt Hon George Eustice MP, said: “It is encouraging to see the Pennon Group responding to the new policy direction I set out while Secretary of State at Defra, with new proposals to improve capacity and reduce the use of storm overflows in the next pricing review period. While there have been issues caused by our Victorian sewage infrastructure, it is now important for water companies and regulators to work together on the solutions.”
Susan Davy commented: “We were pleased to share our plan to our MPs and explain how more investment in our region will enable us to go further and faster to address our key priorities.
“This plan is not just about words; it’s about taking actions to meet the needs of the Greater South West. We will invest record amounts in our infrastructure: increasing water resilience, tackling the use of storm overflows and strengthening our environmental efforts. This will boost the local economy and create new jobs.
We’ve listened to our customers, engaged with communities, and are making progress as we put our promises into practice, and we also need to protect customers from unaffordable increases in their bills. That’s why our plan will set out to do more with less, driving efficiency and innovation to keep increases as low as possible.”
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