Step-by-step guide to developing our plan
All water companies in England and Wales have a statutory duty to develop a Water Resources Management Plan. The process is detailed and complex. The main steps in developing our draft plan for 2010 to 2035 are outlined below.
1. Stakeholder and customer research
Since 2007 we have sought the views of our customers, stakeholders and regulatory bodies through detailed research, customer surveys, and regular meetings to inform our draft plan.
2. Publication of our draft plan
In May 2008 we published our draft Water Resources Management Plan for 2010 to 2035. To assist readers in understanding the technical documents, we published a guide called 'Water - planning for the future', to explain the water resources planning process, and the public consultation process.
Water - planning for the future (3.55Mb)
3. Public consultation
Water companies have a statutory duty to undertake a public consultation on their draft plans to understand the views and priorities of customers and other stakeholders.
In May 2008 we launched a 16-week public consultation on our draft plan. Events were held in Reading and London to encourage participation in the consultation. In addition, a series of exhibitions were held in Oxfordshire for local residents.
The consultation closed in August 2008 and we received over 300 responses. All representaions and feedback are available to view on our independently-facilitated consultation website.
Visit our consultation website
List of organisations we were required to consult (0.74Mb)
4. Taking on board the views of consultees
In February 2009 we published our Statement of Response, which outlines:
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The consideration we gave to the representations received from the public consultation on the draft plan;
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The changes made to the draft plan after considering the representations, and the reasons for the changes;
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Where we did not make any changes to the draft plan after considering the representations, and our reasons;
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How other factors, including the economic downturn, have affected water supply and demand forecasts in the 12 months to February 2009.
Please follow the links below to download our Statement of Response and Schedule of Representations.
Appendix 3 - Schedule of Representations (1Mb)
The supporting schedule lists all the representations we received from the public consultation and where our responses can be found in the Statement of Response.
In order to preserve their anonymity, respondees can only be identified within the schedule via their unique user ID.
5. Consideration of our draft plan by Secretary of State
Following review of our draft plan and Statement of Response, as well as taking into account advice from technical experts and the responses to the public consultation, in August 2009 the Secretary of State announced his decision to hold a public inquiry on our draft plan.
6. Public inquiry
Defra has confirmed the timetable for the public inquiry, which will take place from 15 June 2010 at the Conference Centre in Oxford. The inquiry will take approximately three weeks and will allow a full and comprehensive examination of our draft plan.
Read more about the public inquiry
7. Submit Statement of Common Ground
In February 2010 we submitted our Statement of Common Ground to Defra. This document sets out the issues raised by Defra in calling for the inquiry and additional issues raised by the Environment Agency. It sets out issues which have been agreed by Thames Water and the Environment Agency and issues which are still under discussion or where agreement cannot be reached.
Statement of Common Ground (3.25Mb)
8. Submit Statement of Case
On 23 February 2010, we submitted our Statement of Case to Defra, outlining the case we will present at the public inquiry to support our plan. As well as demonstrating how we will deal with the issues highlighted by Defra, this document also addresses stakeholder comments submitted to Defra during an additional six-week consultation, which closed in January 2010.
This Statement of Case was published on 25 February 2010. It replaces the Statement of Case we published on 23 February 2010. The minor amendments to the Statement were requested by Defra.
How to view PDF files
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