It’s time to stretch ourselves to save water before it’s too late, says Tom Reynolds, Chief Executive of the Bathroom Manufacturers Association.
Taking the time to look ahead and make plans is a luxury many of us were forced to forgo in 2020.
But projecting how to manage the nation’s coffers will take centre stage in the coming weeks and months, as Chancellor Rishi Sunak is due to announce the Budget 2021 on March 3.
As Government readies itself for its first major fiscal event since the start of the pandemic, the dark cloud of a £300bn coronavirus deficit looms large.
At the Bathroom Manufacturers Association, we are lobbying at every opportunity to ensure water scarcity, sustainability and climate change issues are not lost in the noise.
The Environment Agency has warned that dryer summers and an ever-increasing population mean water is becoming more difficult to manage and there will be routine water shortages in 20 years without action.
Our members are key stakeholders in the issue of water scarcity, we depend on a reliable supply of water for our products to function to the satisfaction of consumers.
The sector is also part of the solution, helping to lower water consumption through the installation of efficient fittings and encouraging sustainable behaviours.
To that end, bathroom manufacturers support the Construction Leadership Council’s National Retrofit Strategy and encourage Government to adopt it at the Budget.
We are proud to be one of more than 40 organisations that support this approach and we strongly believe Government should adopt the strategy as policy.
With the UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Glasgow in November, we have every reason for the budget to set out stretch goals on green recovery. As a minimum, Government should establish a national Retrofit Delivery Authority, which should be operational and formulating a ‘plan for every home’ by the time international delegates arrive in Glasgow in the autumn.
A National Retrofit Strategy will help unlock hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country, making a considerable contribution to the ongoing ‘levelling up’ agenda.
Modelling also indicates that with the right amount of public investment, and with retrofit delivered with quality and professionalism at its core, by 2040 the market could upgrade all the UK’s homes, and reach a tax benefit of £1.84 per £1 invested in retrofit.
This is a once in a generation opportunity for the UK Government to show global leadership and stretch its ambition to overcome the challenge of protecting our water resources.
