The Environmental Agency wants water companies in England and Wales to increase efficiency of their resources and reduce the demand for water. It expects them to allocate more funds for infrastructure and maintenance in its effort to cut pollution and reduce the impact of flooding.
The Environmental Agency was pleased with the proposals water companies submitted to the industry regulator Oft regarding their 5-year business plans. But it warned that companies needed to do more.
According to the director of water management, David King, proposals from water companies were commendable, but the Agency was keen to know details of capital maintenance plans and sought reassurance that those investments would be contributing to protection of environment and delivering value for money.
According to Environmental Agency calculations, one fifth of serious pollution incidents were caused by water companies, many of which were due to poor maintenance and ageing or overloading of infrastructure.
The agency is also insisting companies to review plans on protection of water treatment and sewage works to eliminate risk of flooding.
With due consideration to the business plan, Oft will determine what prices can be charged by the companies for water and sewerage services to customers during 2010 to 2015.
It is now the turn of the food sales to register their biggest fall of the last 20 years as the UK consumers resorted to drastic cuts in spending amid fears of recession, unemployment and rising prices.
The official figures confirmed that the UK economy has shrunk in the third quarter of the current year, the first time after recession in 1990s.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that food stores’ sales fell 0.1% in the 3 months to September against the same period last year, making it the biggest drop since 1986.
ONS reported that overall retail sales were down by 0.4% during August and September, their worst since February 2006.
Though monthly drop was marginally worse than predicted, City economists warned that worse was yet to come.
According to Capital Economics’ Vicky Redwood, the slowdown in consumer spending was gathering pace and is predicted to sharply fall by around 1.5% next year. She added that ONS figures were pointing in the same direction as those of gloomy surveys by CBI and British Retail Consortium.
The biggest affected sectors were clothing and shoe shops and textile where sales were down 2.3% and household goods shops which registered 2% fall, indicating less spending on big-ticket items.
British retailers were being hit hard by the consumer slowdown and credit crunch was once again underlined by another retailer DSG, which reported sharp falls in computer and TV sales.
The operator of PC World and Currys, pushed back by online and high street rivals has been forced to cut its investment plans by £30 million.
PC World outlets of DSG Group in Britain and Ireland, selling computers and computer equipment, reported 11% fall in like-for-like sales over 24 weeks. Curry.digital and Currys sales were down by 7%.
The group’s operations in Europe also suffered from declining sales. The better performing Nordic region witnessed 6% fall, while sales in southern Europe, including DSG’s bad performer UniEuro chain, were down by 10%. The group is seeking offers from Spain and Italy for its businesses.
According to DSG chief executive, John Browett, whose services were hired for business turn around; there was significant deterioration in consumer confidence across Europe. Sales of laptops were slow while those of flat-screen TV were negative in terms of value. He reported deterioration in profit margins.
Browett said that he was taking decisive actions including lowering of stocks and slashing of capital expenditure. He announced “renewal and transformation plan” for revival of Group’s fortunes.