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We want regional groups to identify how best to provide an efficient, sustainable and resilient supply of water for all water users in their region over at least 25 years. This includes adopting a long-term environmental destination to protect and improve regional water environments.

To do this, regional groups need to work together to identify the best strategic options that will meet our future water needs. Details of how regional groups are expected to operate and what they need to include in their regional plans are provided in Appendix A.

We want regional groups to build upon their existing achievements to deliver multi-sector planning and drive improvements to water supply resilience, water efficiency and demand management, cross sector engagement, and environmental protection. This will require engagement from non-public water supply sectors.

While there is no obligation for sectors other than public water supply to engage with regional planning, we do have an expectation for those sectors to engage and fully participate.

We recognise that some of the expectations, particularly relating to multi-sector activities, are subject to sustainable sources of funding being secured (Section 12.5) – something which has not yet been fully achieved.

While this remains the case, those activities should be done on a best endeavours basis.

Our updated expectations of regional groups reflect the need for:

• strategic water resources planning to enable growth associated with government ambitions and commitments, including those relating to net zero carbon targets, AI and data security
• more solutions to deficits in public and non-public water supplies, mapped through an adaptive pathway with clear decision points, to enable regional groups to contribute towards the national need in a way that manages future uncertainty
• an increased focus on taking a multi-sector approach, improving coordination across sectors, proposing options and solutions for multiple sectors to meet their water needs, and promoting the establishment of Water Abstractor Groups and Catchment Partnerships
• planning for changes to address environmentally unsustainable abstraction, and to provide future environmental protection and resilience against water resources impacts from climate change and future demands
• more focus on catchments to ensure abstraction is sustainable, considering catchment options to improve resilience and facilitating collaborative approaches across abstractors
• producing a comprehensive statement of intent on drought, detailing collaborative actions and communication strategies
• improving water supply resilience to other pressures such as floods, extreme weather, and pollution
• continued alignment with the water resources planning guideline, ensuring strategic compatibility across regions
• a requirement for an independent chairperson for each regional group, enhancing governance and ensuring unbiased decision-making processes