Stakeholders

We have conducted continuous engagement with our young people group to help drive our long-term plans. They challenged us to increase the pace of change and to focus on environmental improvements, such as nature-based solutions.

We engaged customers through our household panel and then ran a bespoke challenge session on storm overflows and releases along our coast. We explained the action we were taking, and they then helped us spot gaps in our plans and strategy.

We asked customers to help us refine our long-term priorities – and brought both household and future customers together to compare views, find points of alignment and spot any conflicts or gaps in our strategy.

Members of the panel, from environmental groups, regulators and business groups, have supported the development of our refreshed environment strategy.

Throughout the year the panel has been updated on, and has helped inform, our future water resource and drainage management plans.

We have also kept members updated on direct action taken on pollution prevention, river health and our plans to reduce reliance on storm overflows.

Co-creation of our Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs) through a series of workshops in each river basin catchment across our region.

Collaborations have included regulators, Lead Local Flood Authorities, Drainage Boards, National Parks, wildlife interest groups and neighbouring water companies.

Expectations are for tangible improvements in environmental, social and economic quality as a result of better storm overflow performance, nature-based solutions for surface water management and stronger policies and positions on mains sewer connections for rural communities. They wanted to continue to collaborate, co-create and co-deliver.

We have created a set of draft investment needs proposals which have been published for consultation. We will respond to any further issues raised in December.

Our Community Action Group is made up of 30 employees, 30 customers and 30 young people living across our region who support the development of our activities and planning.

The employee group meets every six weeks to discuss and process community grant awards, review our employee volunteering scheme and input into future strategy

The customer and young people groups help us to shortlist and then select their chosen partners for investment.

To improve our incident response, we work closely with Local Resilience Forums to share information about our most vulnerable customers so that we can reach them quickly when they need support.

Our employees take part in a host of regional partnership forums, discussing everything from river health and nitrate management to regional flooding resilience plans.

Our Catchment teams work with farming clusters to develop solutions to improve land management, reduce risks to water quality and river flows, and create sustainable drainage to cope with heavy rain.

We continue to follow and support the vital work of the Sussex Kelp Restoration Project and have provided a letter of endorsement from our CEO.

In November 2021 we attended the inaugural Kelp Summit in Shoreham to hear how the project is progressing, identify areas where we may be able to assist and build on our existing relationships with the many partners involved.

We continue to liaise closely and share data upon request.

Sussex Wildlife Trust are the lead with input from a variety of partners including Sussex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (Sussex IFCA) and the Blue Marine Foundation.

We have partnered with Local Authorities in five key areas, across Kent, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, to trial a series of interventions for reducing the pressure of surface water run-off on our sewers and storm overflows.

We are already running a trial of these interventions in North Hampshire, the results of which are helping to inform work in another four areas.

Our Deal Task Force has just released its first detailed report outlining the interventions planned in the surrounding area over the coming months.

The Employee Voice group is responsible for raising key topics that matter to our people and working together to resolve issues and concerns. One example has been improvements in the management of site maintenance with our contractor Engie, meaning our sites are cleaner and safer for employees.

Operations Employee Voice representatives have played a key role in driving positive change for their teams around health and safety, fleet and facilities and wellbeing.

Several focused working groups have been set up around specific topics such as facilities, pay, reward and policy reviews.