23. 27-11-20 British Water “Better Together Week 25”

Today’s British Water “Better Together” Webinar was hosted by Lila Thompson, CEO of British Water. The webinar consisted of 3 short presentations and a general discussion.

The first speaker was Emma Clancy, Chief Executive of CCWater, who act as a voice for water customers. CCWater have secured over £29 million in financial redress for customers since 2005 and have handled over 400,000 complaints and enquiries. Their purpose is to improve regulation for the benefits of consumers and help water companies get the basics right. They do this by sharing best practice and having honest conservations about key challenges such as affordability that the sector faces. CCWater are exploring consumer choices for water efficiency and will review any shift in social tariffs post the pandemic.

The next speaker was Tim Thomas, Global Consultant, Sustainable Construction, MBCC who spoke about the need for sustainable construction. MBCC provide key support to the construction industry through innovation, sustainability and digitalisation. Concrete has a high carbon footprint and is the second most used material in the world after water. Cement has an incredibly high carbon content and they are researching cement free concrete for the future. Key issues for the water sector are infrastructure age and therefore shutdowns due to infrastructure maintenance, plus the use of materials that avoid contamination in the water system.

Finally, Sophie Broadfield, Deputy Director, Water Services, DEFRA spoke about policy priorities for England’s water sector, and ensuring regulation supports infrastructure modernisation and consumer quality. First, she highlighted the need to reduce demand and the need to introduce a statutory water demand target, including a 50% reduction in leakage and reducing per capita consumption to 110 l/h/d by 2050. She also spoke about the priority for better drainage and wastewater planning with initial voluntary plans for 2024. Sophie also mentioned key issues including affordability, improving water quality and ensuring existing EU water standards are incorporated into UK law.

DEFRA’s 3 environmental priorities are the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP), reducing storm overflows and a national action plan for chalk streams. WINEP sets out the actions that companies will need to complete to meet their environmental obligations. Drivers for investment range from measures for protected areas, improvements to meet River Basin Management objectives and other local environmental priorities.

22. 25-11-20 Lord Mayor’s Annual Address

Today the Lord Mayor Alderman William Russell gave the annual address to the livery. The event began with an introduction by Barbara Russell, Chairman of the Livery Committee. The committee was formed in 1864 originally created with the purpose of organising and overseeing the elections of the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs at Common Hall. 150 years later, the Committee still fulfils this role whilst becoming the forum of communication between the livery and the officers at Guildhall and Mansion House. She explained that the Livery Committee was also responsible for training courses and had recently worked on a Diversity Charter signed by 36 livery companies. The committee has no budget and had relied on donations from livery companies to fund the recently commissioned Livery Committee website.

This was followed by the Lord Mayor’s address. The Lord Mayor started by praising the community support given by livery companies during the pandemic quoting 3 key initiatives – “The Livery Kitchen Initiative” supported by 44 companies, “Securing Future Prosperity” lead by the Management Consultants, and “No Going Back” organised by the Pan Livery Committee to support prisoners on release. He mentioned how he was launching the Recovery Task Force with key actions to ensure the City recovers from the pandemic and the “London Recharged Report” to retain innovation and maintain business eco systems. He also mentioned that he had recently hosted the “Green Horizon Summit” with over 90 countries taking part. Finally, he announced his theme for his second year of office “Global UK – The New Future” which would champion innovation, encourage opportunities for trade and continue to support culture.

The third speech was by the Town Clerk, John Barradell, who spoke about recently commissioned a review of the governance of the City headed by Lord Lisvane. The report issued last year contains more than 90 recommendations, including increasing diversity and reducing the number of committees. He also mentioned the Target Operating Model which will simplify how the City of London Corporation works.

The event ended with a question and answer session in which the Lord Mayor was asked how travel restrictions had affected his role as a global ambassador. The Lord Mayor replied that he had visited more countries virtually than he could have done physically but he was looking forward to many trips next year to re-establish personal relationships.

21. 19-11-20 60 Minutes With Sheriff Christopher Hayward CC

Tonight, I attended a webinar “60 Minutes With Sheriff Christopher Hayward” hosted by Coachmakers Company.  The event was hosted and introduced by Master Coachmaker, Sarah Jane Adams-Diffey and consisted of an initial 30 minute question and answer session between Liveryman Richard Haycocks and Sheriff Chris Hayward followed by a further session of questions from the floor.

Chris started by explaining how the City was governed. It consists of 125 elected members with 2 courts, 25 Aldermen and 100 Common Councillors. Aldermen are elected for life but offer themselves up for re-election every 6 years. The electors consist of City residents and businesses and the number of votes a business gets is determined by the number of employees. By tradition the Councillors and Aldermen are independent of political parties and are not paid. The City Corporation have recently commissioned a review of the governance of the City headed by Lord Lisvane. The report issued last year contains more than 90 recommendations, including increasing diversity and reducing the number of committees.

In response to a question on the impact of the pandemic producing a permanent change in working patterns on the City, Chris replied that pre COVID there were 513,000 people a day commuting into the City which dwindled to just 5,000 during the first lockdown, and was now back up to 60,000. However, the financial markets have continued to function with people working from home and he believed many would return to the office gradually after the pandemic as for many the facilities at home were not as good as the office and many would miss City life.

On Crossrail Chris said that the delays were unfortunate but the project would transform accessibility to the City giving 1.5 million people the opportunity of getting to the City within 30 minutes. He also outlined the future transport strategy with a move to driverless cars and e scooters.

With regards to the impact of Brexit Chris’ view was that it was a huge mistake not to include financial services in the Brexit deal, but he hoped that future regulatory talks would build trust again to agree equivalence deals with the EU. In terms of any advantage Brexit might give to our competitors, he felt that the main threat to the City comes from the US and Singapore, not Europe. In response to a question on freedom of movement, Chris spoke of how the City has relied on attracting the best international talent and was looking towards a streamlined immigration system to deliver this in the future.

On local matters Chris spoke about the possible closure of Guildhall library and the need for the City Corporation to reduce its budget, as it was losing £7 million a month during the pandemic due to rent holidays etc. He urged Livery Companies to reach out to City businesses and get them involved in the Livery, and finally he spoke with pride about the continued development of the “culture mile” as the City was the 3^rd largest funder of the Arts in the UK.

How quickly the hour passed in a most interesting and enlightening question and answer session with my thanks to both the Sheriff and the Coachmakers.

20. 18-11-20 Finance, Membership and General Purposes Committee

Today I chaired my first meeting of the Water Conservators’ Finance, Membership and General Purposes Committee by zoom of course. Despite the current pandemic restricting our normal on-site events, there is certainly still a lot going on virtually and it was a busy meeting with a number of key items discussed.

The recent recruitment flyer issued to members has produced a number of positive responses, and we are in discussion with 2 potential new corporate members, which is all very good news. We also discussed the successful webinars programme, and how we can improve it going forward. There were a host of interesting topics discussed for future webinars so the plan is to continue the webinars and hopefully continue to build our audience both inside and outside the Company.

In terms of other events we have the “Carol Festival” planned for the 15^th December with our Chaplain Katherine Hedderley of All Hallows By The Tower. Planning is in progress for the WET10 debate “Which Way Water 2050” to held virtually on World Water Day, 22^nd March 2021. We also discussed other potential events including a Cocktails Evening in January and a virtual networking event for young members and potential new members.

I can also report that the Company is very good financial shape despite the pandemic and we discussed potential improvements to the successful electronic banking system to make things even more cost effective.

19. 13-11-20 British Water Webinar

Today I attended a British Water “Better Together” Webinar hosted by Lila Thompson, CEO of British Water. The webinar consisted of 3 short presentations and a general discussion.

The first speaker was Colin Skellett, CEO, Wessex Water who spoke about the key issues for Water Companies of aging infrastructure, resilience, and climate change. He outlined the challenges of becoming carbon neutral, and the need for a 25 year resilience investment programme spending 2 to 3 times more than at present. He also highlighted the need to improve our rivers by dealing with storm overflows and working together on legislation. He was confident that most customers were prepared to pay for modest increases in bills over a long period provided social tariffs were used to protect the low paid.

The second speaker was the Rt. Hon Philip Dunne MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, who gave an update on the Sewage (Inland Waters) Bill, which he will present to the House of Commons on Friday 15^th January at 9.30 am. The objective was to improve the water quality of rivers and remove barriers that will help Water Companies and agriculture to reduce pollutions. His bill will encourage more real time monitoring of river water quality which will make the public more aware of the problem and the need for investment.

The final speaker was Stephanie Voelz, Vice President – Senior Credit Officer at Moody’s. She explained Moody’s role and how their credit ratings reflect the likelihood of a default and the expected loss. Currently a number of water companies have a negative outlook due to the recent tough regulatory review. Risks were classified into environmental, social and governance categories. The key risks under the environmental category were climate change, water stress and pollution. They haven’t negatively affected credit ratings to date but are likely to become more important in the future as the demand for water is predicted to rise by 25% by 2050. The key social risks were the provision of clean water, population growth and affordability. These haven’t affected credit ratings significantly to date but are again likely to be more important in the future. Also, debt management may be a significant future risk. Key risks under governance were based around board structure, financial and dividend policies plus internal controls and risk management.

A very enlightening webinar and I look forward to hopefully attending future British Water webinars. 

18. 11-11-20 WCWC Webinar – The Long Winter

It was a great pleasure to host the 6^th of our monthly webinars titled “The Long Winter: Where are we now on sewage-based detection of CV-19”. Court Assistant David Lloyd Owen gave us a fascinating presentation on how Water Based Epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as a powerful tool for the early detection of Covid-19 in communities.

David also gave us an interesting insight on the history of Water Based Epidemiology, how it was developed to detect polio in the 1930s and in 1961 was used to target the deployment of polio vaccinations. The use of WBE during the current pandemic has shown that Covid-19 can be detected in wastewater at low levels up to 2 months before first symptoms were noted in a community. With daily WBE testing, a lead of up to 12 days can be obtained before symptoms re-emerge as seen in Paris this July. Monitoring is possible at a sewage treatment works or upstream in the sewer network to target localised outbreaks.

The presentation was followed by numerous questions that made for a lively thought-provoking question and answer session. David certainly showcased why WBE is so important not just now but for future pandemics and disease control around the world. He made a strong case for politicians and health officials to make the development of WBE an urgent priority.

My thanks go to David for an excellent presentation and to Past Master Simon Catford for admirably managing the zoom technology once again.

17. 10-11-20 Water Conservation Trust AGM

Today I attended the Annual General Meeting of the Water Conservation Trust. As trustees we re-elected the current officers of the Trust, Roger North as Chairman, Peter Hall as Treasurer, and Christine Duthie as Secretary. We also welcomed Past Master Simon Catford as a newly appointed trustee.

In a subsequent meeting of trustees, we had a wide ranging and open discussion on the future changes to the structure of the Trust to ensure compliance with the Charity Commissions latest requirements. Legal advice has suggested that the Trust should be reconstituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), either as an Association CIO or Foundation CIO. This will be further discussed at a future meeting of Trust and Company representatives, with the final arrangements being put before the Court for approval. Much of the meeting discussion also focused on the key area of how the new CIO would be governed.

The Trust manages the vital role of administering the charitable objectives of the Water Conservators Company and it is important that we get the future structure right to ensure that the future CIO is most effective in performing that function in the difficult times ahead.

16. 09-11-20 Masters Committee Meeting

Today we held a further meeting of the Masters Committee via zoom principally to help us plan further virtual events during this period of government restrictions that prevent us from meeting physically. This committee has been vital for generating the ideas that have led to some very successful virtual events so far including the webinars, the wine tasting evening and the pumpkin curving competition.

For this month’s webinar titled “The Long Winter” on Wednesday 11^th November, Court Assistant David Lloyd Owen will be giving a progress update on key advances in the detection of COVID-19 in sewage, important for the early detection of the spread of the virus. Next month on the 10^th December Rob Allen of Policy Connect will present the key recommendations to government in his recent report “Bricks and Water : Building Resilience for England’s Homes” the results of a year long cross party think tank led by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering. The report makes recommendations with regard to water efficiency in homes, property flood resilience, and sustainable drainage.

Planning is also well advanced for a “Carol Festival” on the 15^th December, led by Deputy Master, Mark Lane, and our Chaplain the Reverend Katherine Hedderley, Vicar of All Hallows by the Tower. Members are urged to submit their carols to Simon Catford by the 30^th November.

We also spent time discussing further events in the New Year including a Cocktails Evening, the WET lecture and planning for the possibility of a Myddelton Lunch in March if the situation allows. Other topics discussed at the committee included the future structure of the Water Conservation Trust and recruitment.

15. 05-11-20 Thames Fishery Research Experiment

Today I received the report of 48th Thames Fishery Research Experiment conducted on 17^th October 2020. The Thames Fishery Research Experiment is an annual angling event held along the foreshore of the River Thames, one and a half miles downriver from the Port Health River Division Office in Denton, Gravesend. The experiment takes the form of a competition, in which more than 70 anglers from eight adult teams and two school teams, compete for several team and individual prizes.

The objective of the experiment is to establish the environmental condition of the Thames through the variety, number and size of fish species caught. The scoring system rates the catch according to scarcity and significance in the context of a cleaner river and, of course, the majority of fish caught during the event are returned to the river. Over the years, the experiment has proven that the Thames remains the cleanest river in Northern Europe.

The angling competition is usually followed by a formal, three course meal and presentation ceremony in a marquee for approximately 150 people. However, this year due to the pandemic, the event was restricted solely to the anglers and stewards, and judging was conducted virtually. As Master of the Water Conservators I was invited to judge the entries for the Biodiversity Award for the catch which most demonstrates the continuing healthiness and

improvement of the River Thames. This year’s winning catch (22 Whiting, 3 Bass, 1 Plaice and 1 Flounder) was that of Jason Mann of the Kent Angling Team.

14. 01-11-20 Pumpkin Carving Competition

I was immensely pleased to see the fantastic response to the Water Conservators “Pumpkin Carving” Competition ably organised by Walbrook Warden Christine Jarvis. We had 17 entrants in the under 16 years old category and 14 in the above 16 years old. The standard of entries was also extremely high making it a really difficult job for Christine and myself as judges to pick the two winners.

In the end we decide to award 1^st prize to Anna and Martin Baggs (see first photo) in the Over 16 Years Old category and 1^st prize in the Under 16 Years Old category to Chloe Hayes (aged 10 – see second photo). Christine and I would like to express our thanks to everyone who entered.

We had entrants from children as young as 6 years old in the Under 16 category and the Over 16’s included entries from our learned Clerk and Sheriff Alderman Michael Mainelli. We will put all the pumpkin photos together and put them on the website for all to see. My special thanks go to Walbrook Warden Christine Jarvis for coming up with this brilliant competition and managing all the photos.