Angela Rayner’s plans to build 1.5million homes by 2029 will leave Britain at risk of drought by creating demand for extra half a billion litres of water EACH DAY, experts say_Nhy
Angela Rayner’s plans to build 1.5 million more homes by 2029 will leave Britain at risk of drought, experts said last night.
The extra households will create demand for an extra half a billion litres of water every day.
Yet the Environment Agency says the UK is already heading for a shortage of more than a billion litres a day by the end of the decade.
The agency says that every part of England apart from the West Country faces a shortage of water by 2030, due to a failure to invest in infrastructure.
Water companies accuse regulator Ofwat, saying it has failed to permit investment required to replace the creaking Victorian infrastructure.
Later this week Ofwat will set levels of investment for the next five years.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed recently admitted: ‘Unless we take action to increase water supply then demand for drinking water will start to outstrip supply in a way that happens in Mediterranean countries.’
Angela Rayner’s (pictured) plans to build 1.5 million more homes by 2029 will leave Britain at risk of drought, experts said last night
The extra households will create demand for an extra half a billion litres of water every day
An industry source said: ‘This country hasn’t built a reservoir in 30 years despite the population surging.
‘Ofwat and the Government have got to step up this week if the country is to avoid this catastrophe.’
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Eton College slashes a third of its free places amid fears over Labour’s VAT tax raid
Eton College is slashing its bursaries budget by more than £1 million because of fears over Labour’s impending VAT on fees tax raid.
More than a third of its free places will be cut by 2027 as aid is cut from £9.7 million to £8.65 million despite the college sitting on a £553 million endowment fund.
Staff have also been told that ‘there is a need to find savings across the school’. The college has already confirmed it will be imposing the full VAT charge on parents.
This will see fees rise to more than £63,000 a year, while other private schools have sought to offset some of the rise.
In an internal announcement seen by The Mail on Sunday, staff were told this week that Provost Sir Nicholas Coleridge and the college’s Fellows ‘were concerned about the exceptional drawdown from the endowment as well as the size of the deficit in light of the changes made by the new Labour Government’.
Staff at the school once attended by Prince William and Prince Harry were told that the cut would be made by the 2027/2028 academic year when only 70 boys out of more than 1,300 at the school would remain on free places.
The school website reports that 105 boys had free places in the 2022/3 academic year.
The memo also reported that the school deficit in the last financial year was £5.4 million – ‘£0.9 million higher than budget’.
Eton College is slashing its bursaries budget by more than £1 million because of fears over Labour’s impending VAT
Staff at the school once attended by Prince William and Prince Harry were told that the cut would be made by the 2027/2028 academic year
The school website reports that 105 boys had free places in the 2022/3 academic year
It follows the MoS’s revelations a month ago that Sir Nicholas had defended Eton’s decision to levy
the full VAT burden on parents and not reduce school fees. At the time, the former president of Vogue publisher Condé Nast International told parents the school could not afford to absorb the VAT themselves or reduce fees because it had so many financial commitments.
He also warned the college was facing an additional bill of around £1 million from the Budget rise in employers’ National Insurance, as well as a bill for £1 million in lost business-rate relief.
He admitted Eton had been deluged with requests from current parents for financial aid but said funds from its endowment were already earmarked.
The Provost and Fellows were said to have undertaken a ‘lengthy discussion’ before ‘it was agreed that the amount spent on financial aid would be decreased’. A separate letter was issued to staff in advance about the need to ‘find savings’.
An Eton spokesman confirmed it would ‘preserve at least 70 free places’ following budget cuts.
They added: ‘Any reduction in the overall bursary and scholarships funding will not take effectuntil 2027/28.’
