Yorkshire: Sustainable Water Management Solutions

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Wednesday 28th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Grender (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree—

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, I pay tribute—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

We have plenty of time. We will have the Lib Dems first, then the Conservatives.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

When we brought in the recent water Act, we expected water companies to respect what Parliament had passed, and to behave in the right way regarding paying themselves bonuses when they were continuing to pollute. We will do what we can to crack down on that and to change behaviour, but I am also pleased that we are looking to prioritise a further water Bill to continue to improve the situation.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

I pay tribute to the Slowing the Flow Pickering scheme, which has prevented the flooding of Pickering. I bring to the Minister’s attention the case of Gladman Developments v Lancaster City Council. It has set aside the sequential test and overruled what MHCLG was hoping for: that optional standards will be respected. Going forward, this will contribute to greater flooding until we have mandatory SUDS standards. Is this not causing the Government concern? There is an amendment to the English devolution Bill that I hope MHCLG might support.

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

Obviously, I cannot comment on the specific issue to which the noble Baroness refers, but we are absolutely committed to improving the implementation of sustainable drainage systems. The noble Baroness is aware that we have updated the national planning policy framework to do so, and we introduced new national standards in June last year. They made it clear that SUDS should be designed to cope with changing climate conditions and to deliver wider benefits. We want this to work, and we recognise that SUDS are an important part of combating future flooding.