Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's White Paper entitled A New Vision for Water, published on 20 January 2026, what assessments he has made of the potential impact of the proposed joined‑up local planning measures on the prevention of surface‑to‑foul water misconnections in new housing developments.

In the White Paper Defra has committed to delivering an enhanced, better joined up regional water planning function.

This will enable a more holistic, coordinated approach to water environment and supply planning which supports delivery of national strategic objectives such as the economic growth mission, housing building targets and nature recovery, whilst enabling regional and local priorities to be realised.

Defra is engaging a range of stakeholders to understand what works well, and where there are challenges with water sector planning, within the current river basin planning system. This engagement is helping us test emerging thinking, identifying opportunities to strengthen planning and delivery and ensure policy development is informed by practical experience as well as evidence and analysis.

Property owners are legally responsible for resolving misconnected pipework on their property; public misconnections are the responsibility of water companies.

Should misconnections not be resolved, the responsible party can be prosecuted; in some cases, local authorities and water companies can access private property to fix misconnections and then recover their costs from the owner.