Reflections: Integrated planning and industry leadership in the spotlight

Key themes from the Fresh Water Futures event

I recently joined industry leaders at the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management’s (CIWEM) Fresh Water Futures event in London: a key gathering for shaping water sector policy and practice. The room brought together a diverse mix of voices – water companies, the Environment Agency (EA), local authorities, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), environmental non-governmental organisations (eNGO) and finance bodies – all united by one question: how do we deliver a resilient future for fresh water?

The event was held slightly in the shadow of the anticipated government white paper on water sector governance (in response to the Cunliffe Report). As that had not, at the time, been released, the interest and anticipation of it was a key point of discussion in most of the sessions. However, it was all speculation given the circumstances!

A key theme that resonated with me was integrated planning

This was raised in numerous sessions and alluded to in almost all. Discussions spanned the interesting Integrated Water Management Plan led by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority through to the possibilities of the Regional Systems Planner identified in the Cunliffe Report.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Marc Lidderth – a speaker at the event and the EA’s area director for the West Midlands – in supporting the work of the River Severn Partnership. This organisation provides a forum wherein the risk management authorities and wider regional bodies (such as eNGOs and landowner organisations) can work together to explore shared aspirations and explore the mechanisms of working together.

An example of what comes from this type of integrated and systems thinking is the Severn Valley Water Management Scheme, of which I’m proud to be the project executive on behalf of the EA. This scheme is about regional growth, communities being able to make a living and environmental recovery, just as much as it is about flood risk reduction. Powys County Council, Shropshire Council and Natural Resources Wales all take an active role in the project, and as part of the project board, and are providing the drive and political will that it needs.

But let’s not kid ourselves – integrated working is hard. Funding models and processes don’t often align, and few client organisations have the breathing space to cause them to. It takes a lot of effort to get to the starting blocks where we have even a vague understanding of shared challenges and opportunities. It then takes time to create shared aspirations and to develop evidence on what outputs (outcomes?) can deliver for these shared aspirations. In the River Severn Partnership, we’ve had to invest a lot of time into planning and delivering on this.

It was no surprise that funding was also a key point of discussion

National Highways was open about its need for additional evidence to undertake more integrated working. However, United Utilities was clear about the value it had gained in working with others.

From a financial perspective, the discussion around using the green finance market effectively concluded that benefits should be consolidated, i.e., we sell the whole picture rather than just components of it. This tied neatly with the work of the Aire Resilience Company outlined by Jonathan Moxon of Leeds City Council.

My personal reflection was the joy I’ve experienced from my involvement in projects where we’d made integrated working truly effective and the collective effort yielded far more than one organisation could bring. This is as true for the delivery of discrete tasks (e.g., design) as it is for the more complex ones (such as the Severn Valley Water Management Scheme). I’ve found the key is having those open conversations about what we can individually gain from the work that we share and why it’s more than we would otherwise get. This often needs to be repeated as we go along too.

I look forward to continuing to champion integrated thinking and to seeing collaborative working towards shared aspirations become the norm.