The draft National Policy Statement (NPS) on Waste Water - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Contents


8  Defra's Consultation process

67. The Government's criteria for effective consultation set out in its Code of Practice on Consultation include the requirement that "formal consultation should take place at a stage when there is scope to influence the policy outcome".[124] However, various statements in the draft NPS appear to close off the possibility of revision of key areas. For example, the draft NPS states that it must be designated if the UK is to meet its obligations under the Urban Waste-Water Treatment and Water Framework Directives, and offers no alternative options for achieving this.[125] Additionally, the draft NPS appears to offer a fait accompli in regard to the Thames Tunnel, citing it the "preferred infrastructure solution" since 2007.[126]

68. Whilst Defra's consultation allows for revisions in the light of responses to its specific questions, statements in the draft NPS suggest that there is no room for revisions on fundamental issues such as the need to designate the NPS and the need for the two identified London projects. Defra should clarify in its response to this Report how it has taken into account responses to all aspects of its draft NPS consultation in order to fulfil the Government's requirement that formal consultation should take place at a stage when there is scope to influence the policy outcome.

69. A further principle in the Government's consultation code is that consultation exercises should be "designed to be accessible to, and clearly targeted at, those people the exercise is intended to reach".[127] We received no evidence that consultation on specific projects such as the Thames Tunnel (which is conducted separately from consultation on the draft NPS) is anything other than adequate and indeed we heard from Thames Water of extensive consultation work undertaken in advance of a formal planning application being submitted.[128] However, the Defra consultation on the draft NPS itself has been low key and garnered only a low number of responses.[129] The GLA told us Defra was only conducting a "token consultation" and that the Department appeared to place "too much weight" on the draft NPS as a consultation document when it was unlikely that all but the most dedicated and well informed interest groups would comment on it.[130] The Mayor's Advisor on the Environment, Isabel Dedring, told us that "not everyone affected knows that [the NPS consultation] is happening. They may well know that the Tunnel consultation is happening but not the NPS consultation".[131]

70. A consultation on a specific project with immediately identifiable impacts, such as the Thames Tunnel, could be expected to generate far greater interest than a consultation on a generic policy document such as the NPS. Nonetheless, the response to the Defra consultation appears disappointing. We recommend that any future consultation on a draft NPS is given a higher profile, particularly with the local authority and planning communities.


124   HM Government, Code of Practice on Consultation, July 2008, p 4. Back

125   Draft NPS, p 6, para 1.5.3. Back

126   Draft NPS, p 21, paras 4.1.2 and 4.1.3. Back

127   HM Government, Code of Practice on Consultation, criterion 4, July 2008, p 4. Back

128   Qq 93, 94, 101, 102 Back

129   Defra received 38 submissions by the end of its consultation period in February 2011. Back

130   Ev 56  Back

131   Q 136 Back


 
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Prepared 5 April 2011