Council voted overwhelmingly to scrutinise Southern Water’s data

During a Full Council meeting held on Wednesday 16 November councillors from Havant Borough Council agreed to undertake further investigation of the data provided by Southern Water.

Whilst it is not the council’s responsibility to regulate Southern Water, the current lack of trust and confidence in the data and information provided by the company presents a risk to the process of producing the borough’s new local plan – Building a Better Future.

Once an independent expert has been secured they will be tasked to review and scrutinise the data and information supplied by Southern Water, prior to it being used for planning purposes.

The cabinet lead for Local Plan, environment and water quality, Councillor Lloyd, said during the meeting held in The Plaza “We have to be sure that when this council is making decisions on the Local Plan, that these can be made with robust facts about wastewater treatment capacity, increasing the confidence in the decision-making process.”

The Leader of Havant Borough Council, Councillor Alex Rennie, added; “We owe it to our residents who are extremely concerned about the activities of Southern Water to investigate further the data given to us.

“It is essential that all data and information used for the production of the new Local Plan can be relied upon so that the inspectors find it to be sound in every regard.”