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Without a sufficient, sustainable and resilient supply of water neither the environment, society nor the economy can function. To have a future where nature, people and the economy can thrive and grow we need to continue and take further action to plan and deliver solutions and options to meet society鈥檚 water needs. To do this we need:

• to recognise and reflect the fundamental role of water resources in planning and development
• to deliver demand management reductions now
• to deliver and maintain pace on the delivery of large infrastructure
• Regional Water Resource Groups to identify, co-ordinate and facilitate delivery of solutions
• to have greater collaborative water resources planning and delivery of solutions with other water using sectors
• to tackle current unsustainable abstraction issues now and commit to deliver the Environmental Destination
• to continue to innovate and develop new approaches to enhancing water resources.

In addition to the expectations placed on regional water resources groups in chapter 11 and the supporting appendix, next steps include the following.

1. As part of our strategic overview of water resources across all sectors of use, the Environment Agency will continue to assess the scale of the national challenge.

2. Government will consider the policies and legal framework needed to respond to the pressures, so we are fit for the future, taking account of recommendations from the Independent Review of Water led by Sir Jon Cunliffe.

3. The role of regional water resources groups is key in overcoming these challenges, particularly in identifying strategic options between water companies and embedding them in plans. We will continue to help enable regional water resources groups to develop multi-sector water resources plans and to facilitate the delivery of collaborative solutions.

4. We will continue to and upscale our engagement with other water using sectors to understand their needs and issues and facilitate early engagement with the water sector and Regional Groups.

5. We will update our planning guideline for water company water resources plans and regional plans so that water companies and regional groups have clarity on expectations and timescales for producing plans.

6. Regulators, particularly through RAPID, will help to evaluate proposed solutions and to help facilitate the identification of new options.

7. We will support the enhancement of the local tier of water resources planning such as Water Abstractor Groups and Catchment Partnerships to better enable delivery and we will continue to work through the National Framework to enable more effective collaboration.

8. The Environment Agency will promote water rights trading, water rights sharing, the capture and storage of high flows (where environmentally sustainable) and will consider how dynamic catchment management and the potential need to reserve water rights for critical infrastructure can be a feature of the regulatory process. We will continue to review abstraction permissions to ensure that they are environmentally sustainable and will provide Regional Groups and Water Abstractor Groups the opportunity to develop alternative proposals to the regulatory default pathway.

This National Framework takes another step forward on the path to a sustainable and plentiful supply of water. We must continue to act and deliver solutions at pace so we have water for growth, water for nature, water for a resilient future.