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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of shifting from centralised stormwater solutions to decentralised approaches such as rainwater harvesting on carbon savings.

In June this year, the Government introduced new national standards, making clear that sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) should be designed to cope with changing climatic conditions as well as delivering wider water infrastructure benefits in the form of flood prevention and storm overflow reduction, offering reuse opportunities, reducing run off, and helping to improve water quality, amenity, and biodiversity. The standards should be used by local authorities when assessing applications for development which could affect drainage on or around the site, see paragraphs 181 and 182 of the National Planning Policy Framework.

We will continue to work with water companies and developers to support them to deliver water efficiency through both rainwater harvesting and water recycling and learn from their experiences.