Introduction

As a provider of water supply and sewage services, Yorkshire Water (YW) plays a vital role in maintaining and improving the regions environment, particularly with respect to our uplands, wetlands and surface waters, our streams, rivers, estuarial and coastal waters. We interact with the natural world in all aspects of our business from the abstraction, treatment and supply of water, through to waste water collection, its treatment, and discharge. We also affect our environment through our associated construction and maintenance works, our day to day administration and business management, and in the stewardship of our extensive regional landownership.

Yorkshire Water, under section 3 of the Water Industry Act (1991), has a duty to “further the conservation and enhancement of natural beauty and the conservation of flora, fauna and geological or physiographical features of special interest”.

In addition, the Water Framework Directive (WFD), builds on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) process developed in 1995, and will require the company to achieve quality standards by 2012 based on the ecology as well as chemical water quality of our rivers, estuaries and coastal waters. DEFRA’s own guidance confirms that the WFD could be the single largest environmental quality driver for the next 15 years, with cost estimates up to or exceeding £16 billion for the UK Water Industry. It is therefore essential that we understand and work in partnership with our stakeholders so that we can achieve these new standards, through sustainable investments which take account of our customers’ willingness to pay.

We recognise that the WFD makes the biodiversity of our region, which can be defined simply as ‘variety of life’, of strategic importance to our business. In addition, DEFRA and the 22 stakeholders which sit on our Environmental Advisory Panel recognise that developing and implementing a biodiversity strategy and company BAP represents best practise and will assist YW in becoming clearly the leading water company in terms of environmental management.

As a regulated industry, our funding is targeted through the Periodic Review process. We remain committed to m anaging the impacts of our business processes on biodiversity and seek to maximise the biodiversity benefits achieved from our endeavours. Our commitment is highlighted in Kelda’s environmental policy, which states we will “ conserve and enhance biodiversity wherever practicable or required, through efficient and effective practices .” Similarly, our aspirations on biodiversity are integrated within our Environmental Management System (EMS), which is certified to ISO 14001. These aspirations, where affordable and supported by our customers, look to proactively conserve and enhance the environment and to consider going beyond compliance when we believe the benefits clearly exceed the costs.

Whilst aspirational, our work in the area of biodiversity will also form a key part of our commitment to integrate the principles of sustainable development into our business.

Benefits to YW and the region of developing a biodiversity strategy will be:

• Contributes to national and regional biodiversity objectives and enhances the biodiversity of the Yorkshire region
  
  
• Helps YW to meet its corporate aims / vision ‘to be clearly the best water company in the UK’.
  
  
• Helps YW to meet a number of regulatory and non-regulatory drivers, including elements of the WFD and the English Nature / YWS Memorandum of Understanding on Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) recovery.
  
  
• Enhances YW’s reputation and relationships, by formalising and promoting the excellent work we currently undertake in this area.
  
  
• Provides advantages for commercial bids, as biodiversity is an increasingly important factor in determining success.

Strategic Commitments
We will contribute to national biodiversity objectives and seek to enhance the biodiversity of the Yorkshire region where the benefits clearly exceed the costs by:

• Publishing our Biodiversity Strategy by December 2004.
  
  
• Supporting the UK Government’s national strategy and regional biodiversity plans, whilst managing and taking action to implement biodiversity as an integral part of our business planning and operations.
  
  
• Developing a formal biodiversity management process (i.e. a Company Biodiversity Action Plan), which is integrated into the company’s EMS and other management systems by December 2005.
  
  
• Assessing any significant impacts on biodiversity for relevant business planning and operational practices and procedures.
  
  
• Using the environmental aspects identified through our EMS to prioritise our work in the area of biodiversity and set goals.
  
  
• Developing a tool to enable us to clearly identify benefits and costs associated with biodiversity work and to assist with our EMS based decision process.
  
  
• Managing our landholdings to achieve our biodiversity goals, seeking to conserve and enhance biodiversity where possible.
  
  
• Managing our woodlands to achieve the standards contained within the UK Woodland Assurance Scheme which will lead to UKWAS/Forestry Stewardship Council accreditation.
  
  
• Managing our supply chain and investment decisions to reduce the risks of indirect adverse impacts and to enhance biodiversity.
  
  
• Developing partnerships with stakeholder groups to assist the delivery of a diverse and sustainable ecology for the region.
  
  
• Taking an active role in the Yorkshire and Humber Biodiversity Forum .
  
  
• Setting goals annually and reporting on our biodiversity performance through our web-based CSR and Environment Report.
  
  
• Gaining awareness of the commitments of other BAPs, to ensure we maximise the use of available data and, where possible, share our biodiversity data and survey work.
  
  
• Consulting our independent Environmental Advisory Panel on biodiversity actions and progress.