§ Mr. BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will amend the Building Regulations to comply with section 104 of the Water Industries Act 1991 to ensure that all sewers are built by developers to an adoptable standard. [22841]
§ Mr. RaynsfordThere are no plans to amend the Building Regulations to require that all sewers are built to a standard necessary for them to be adopted under an agreement made under section 104 of the Water Industry Act 1991. However, in 1986, the Department of the Environment in conjunction with the Welsh Office carried out a review of water and sewerage law and considered the automatic adoption of all new sewers undertakers. It was concluded that this could not be implemented as it would have involved vesting existing private sewers with the water authorities of the time and would have placed an undue financial burden on them and hence their customers.