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England and Wales water reform: legal analysis of the Cunliffe Report on a single regulator, integrated systems planning, statutory standards, social tariffs and SuDS adoption

Published on: 13 August 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Environment expert
Legal News
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Article summary

Introduction

The Independent Water Commission’s Final Report lays out a bold, ambitious blueprint to overhaul governance, regulation, and strategic planning across the water sector in England and Wales. It proposes sweeping structural shifts: establishing integrated national regulators, reshaping the system-planning remit, and dramatically streamlining the industry’s planning frameworks. The report prioritises long-term resilience, cross-sector collaboration, and aligning environmental and growth ambitions through a National Water Strategy. It presses for statutory resilience benchmarks, mandatory smart metering, a national social tariff, and the consolidation of nine separate water plans into two core frameworks. Recognising the shortcomings of today’s fragmented regime, the Commission urges targeted legislative change, stronger consumer safeguards, and a more coherent model for infrastructure delivery, with the goal of building a sustainable, efficient, and transparent water sector equipped to meet the challenges of the next 25 years.

Strategic direction

The report begins by outlining the high-level strategic direction for transforming the UK water system...

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