Northumbrian Water and Essex & Suffolk Water Strategic Environmental Assessment Scoping assessment

Welcome to our consultation - we would like your feedback to help inform and develop our plans.

We have commissioned our Strategic Partners - Jacobs and Stantec, to undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for our  Drought Plans 2027.

Our Drought Plans identify what we will do before, during, and after a drought to ensure that we are able to provide our customers with a resilient water supply. Drought Plans identify what measures are available to reduce demand and support supplies and the triggers that will be used to identify when actions are required. The Drought Plans also outline how we will communicate with our customers during a drought.

Our Drought Plans 2027 SEA will meet the requirements of the SEA Directive^[1] and the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004^[2] to assess the effect of our drought actions and plans on the environment.  It will also inform our decision-making process and help us prioritise the order and timing of  implementing drought actions.

This SEA Scoping is the first stage of the SEA process and presents information on the context and scope of our SEA.

Once the consultation period has finished, all consultation responses will be carefully reviewed. The SEA assessment will be reported within  an Environmental Report alongside the other environmental assessments we are undertaking as part of the Drought Plan process. The Environmental Report will be published alongside our Draft Drought Plans 2027 by 31 March 2026.

As part of this consultation on our SEA Scoping Report we would welcome your views on the following key questions:

• Do you have any comments on the baseline information presented or any additional baseline information you think would be useful?
• Do you have any comments on the key issues and opportunities identified?
• Do you have any comments on the proposed SEA objectives and assessment questions/sub-themes?  
• Do you have any comments on the overall approach and environmental assessment methodology?

Please send your views by completing our online form or by email to waterresources@nwl.co.uk - the deadline is -

5.00pm on Tuesday 18 November 2025.

References:

[1] European Parliament and Council of the European Union (2001) Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment Commission of the European Communities, Brussels.

[2] The Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004, Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland 2004 No. 280.