The Water Resources East Regional Water Resources Plan for Eastern England is here:
Section A3 of the regional plan contains details for farmers and growers, including priority areas for future work and the following policy asks.
- Long-term security of abstraction licences to allow multi-year farm production planning and to support investment in new water supplies. For example, the business case for a circa 25-year investment in a reservoir cannot be built upon abstraction licences that include six-year review points as proposed under the new Environmental Permitting Regime.
- Funding and incentives to develop and grow abstractor groups, including where these are not already in place. This will allow the planning work to be undertaken at local level, directly with farm and other business abstractors.
- Adoption of policies that give farmers the confidence to take on debt and invest to make businesses sustainable and fit for the future.
- Streamlining of agriculture reservoir consent processes for both planning and abstraction licensing, and
- Reassurance that rural livelihoods are considered a policy priority, and that the health, safety and welfare of the rural workforce and their livestock is taken seriously during drought events.
