P269 Water Industry Development is an illustrative PHC project for exploring how the UK water industry can deliver reliable services, environmental improvement and long-term infrastructure investment with stronger evidence, accountability and public confidence.
The project is not an official programme of any water company and does not presume access to private operational information. It uses public evidence, regulatory findings, published company information and informed stakeholder contribution to build a living, structured view of sector conditions. Southern Water's recent pollution and enforcement issues provide an important current reference point, but the project is intentionally applicable across companies, regions and individual water or wastewater projects.
Rather than producing a static commentary on industry failure, P269 is intended to demonstrate active Concerns management. Material issues are recorded, tested through comment, connected to relevant Actions, People, Locations, Events, Milestones and Deliverables, and updated when significant evidence changes. This creates a progressive evidence trail through which assumptions, responsibilities, proposed remedies and results can be examined over time.
The illustrative project also provides a transparent entry point for commercial engagement. A water company, regulator, investor, contractor, local authority or community body may select a defined real-world project or operational concern for a focused PHC Review. If the initial work demonstrates value, that engagement can develop into a separately scoped continuing PHC Service supporting delivery, governance and assurance.
📄 P269 Project Information 📄 P269 Framing Questions 📄 P269 Strategic Plan 📄 P269 Manifesto 📄 P269 Business Case 📄 P269 90-Day Plan 📄 The Story of PHC 📄 PHC Concerns Management 📄 The PHC Value PropositionThis proposal invites government departments, regulators, public agencies, local authorities and other eligible public-interest bodies to become institutional members of P269 Water Industry Development: an open, industry-neutral PHC project dedicated to improving the evidence, economics and accountability surrounding water-industry decisions.
P269 will remain openly accessible to water companies, delivery partners, professionals, researchers, customers and communities. It will maintain structured sector Concerns using public evidence, regulatory and court findings, company information and informed stakeholder contributions. Recent Southern Water enforcement provides an important current reference, but P269 is not an official project or authorised investigation of Southern Water or any other organisation.
Institutional members will fund the continuing evidence, analysis, engagement and PHC record maintenance needed to keep the project useful. Members will receive scheduled briefings, may nominate material questions and evidence for consideration, and will be publicly recognised as participating funders where they approve publication. Membership will not purchase editorial control, favourable findings or confidential access to another member's information.
When a water company or other organisation wishes to apply PHC to its own assets, programme or operational Concern, that work will be separately scoped, authorised and priced as a dedicated PHC Service. P269 therefore acts as shared preliminary infrastructure: it reduces duplication, develops sector learning and gives prospective clients a visible demonstration before they commission private or restricted work.
P269 Water Industry Development is a shared PHC evidence environment for water supply, wastewater, sewerage, environmental performance, infrastructure investment, operational resilience and customer outcomes. Its purpose is to connect important Concerns to traceable evidence, affected Locations, responsible People, material Events, practical Actions, Milestones and Deliverables, then maintain those relationships as circumstances change.
The project addresses an industry problem that is not solved by publishing more reports alone. Evidence is distributed across regulators, courts, government, companies, contractors, monitoring systems and community experience. Investment commitments may be visible while the connection to achieved outcomes remains difficult to follow. Penalties may be public while the whole-life economics of prevention, deferred expenditure, detection, remediation and transferred harm remain unclear.
P269 will make those relationships progressively visible without claiming authority it does not possess. Public evidence can identify patterns and questions; authorised company information is required to establish internal causes and accountability. The open project will therefore coexist with separately governed company-specific PHC Services, not blur the boundary between them.
The proposed institutional membership model allows several public bodies to support one common resource through monthly invoicing. Participation and funding will be transparently reported, subject to each member's approval and applicable public-sector requirements.
Institutional members may include national government departments, devolved administrations, economic and environmental regulators, drinking-water authorities, public-health bodies, local and regional authorities, infrastructure and environmental agencies, publicly owned water bodies, development institutions and other organisations with a legitimate water-sector mandate.
Open project participants may include water and wastewater companies, employees, engineering and construction partners, investors, lenders, insurers, environmental organisations, researchers, professional bodies, customers, communities and people affected by service failure, pollution or infrastructure development.
Order Efficiency Ltd will operate the PHC Service, maintain the project structure, process evidence and comments, facilitate member engagement, publish agreed participation information and administer monthly membership invoices.
Independent and specialist contributors may provide water operations, environmental, regulatory, economic, legal, data or community expertise. Their role and any funding or conflict of interest will be disclosed where relevant.
Membership does not confer regulatory authority, replace statutory duties or imply endorsement of every P269 record. Members may contribute evidence and challenge conclusions on the same evidential terms as other participants. Restricted member information will not be made public without authority.
P269 will be operated through a three-phase institutional membership model:
Membership will be invoiced monthly on equal published terms within the applicable membership class. The initial operating model will be reviewed after six months and may continue on a renewable monthly basis.
Phase 1 — Membership Confirmation and Baseline
Agree each institution's membership authority, nominated representative, invoicing arrangements, public-recognition preference and priority questions. Confirm the founding evidence portfolio, publication safeguards and distinctions between established findings, interpretation and unresolved allegations. No member-specific confidential review is included in this phase.
Phase 2 — Shared Service Setup
Establish the operating arrangements for institutional membership: monthly briefings, evidence submissions, nominated Concern assessment, stakeholder participation, correction and challenge, member acknowledgements, change reporting and governance of restricted information. Complete the first portfolio of cross-sector Concerns and linked Actions and Deliverables.
Phase 3 — Open Continuing Service
Maintain P269 as an active public resource. Review significant sector developments, update evidence and PHC records, process substantive comments, report changes and unresolved questions, convene member discussions where useful and identify bounded cases suitable for separately commissioned company or agency PHC Services.
The institutional membership service is expected to produce:
These outcomes are expected, not guaranteed. The service will report what changed, what participation occurred, which Actions advanced and whether real decisions or dedicated projects resulted.
| Category | Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | Month 4 | Month 5 | Month 6 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founding-basis operating cost | 17,280 | 17,280 | 17,280 | 17,280 | 17,280 | 17,280 | 103,677 |
| Four founding members | 18,000 | 18,000 | 18,000 | 18,000 | 18,000 | 18,000 | 108,000 |
| Standard-basis operating cost | 33,835 | 33,835 | 33,835 | 33,835 | 33,835 | 33,835 | 203,010 |
| Four standard members | 36,000 | 36,000 | 36,000 | 36,000 | 36,000 | 36,000 | 216,000 |
| TOTAL | 105,115 | 105,115 | 105,115 | 105,115 | 105,115 | 105,115 | 630,687 |
| Membership Element | Included Arrangement |
|---|---|
| Access | All public P269 records remain openly accessible; payment is not an access fee. |
| Institutional representation | One lead representative and reasonable participation by relevant institutional specialists. |
| Monthly briefing | Structured update on evidence changes, active Concerns, contributions, Actions, Deliverables and emerging decision needs. |
| Concern nomination | Members may nominate material sector questions for assessment against published relevance and evidence criteria. |
| Evidence contribution | Member evidence and contrary views assessed, attributed where appropriate and handled according to agreed publication and confidentiality rules. |
| Public recognition | Member name, participation period and approved description publicly acknowledged; recognition may be withheld where policy requires. |
| Collective discussion | Periodic cross-member evidence or action sessions where a shared issue justifies them. |
| Dedicated work | Company-, agency- or asset-specific Reviews are excluded and require a separate scope and commission. |
| Editorial independence | No member may purchase a conclusion, suppress supported contrary evidence or control another participant's contribution. |
| Term and invoicing | Monthly invoice; initial six-month evaluation period; continuation renewable monthly under agreed notice terms. |
The founding-basis people budget below retains the provisional government-level 50% service rates used in the existing P269 cost model. The standard-cost basis is twice these hourly service rates. Actual deployment will be adjusted to the funded membership cohort and evidenced workload.
| Role | Indicative Lead | Founding Hourly Rate | Six-Month Hours | Founding Basis | Standard Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHC Strategist | David Winter | £69.30 | 208 | £14,414 | £28,828 |
| PHC Analyst | Abubakr Harakat | £46.20 | 530 | £24,486 | £48,972 |
| PHC Administration | To be confirmed | £26.95 | 1,255 | £33,822 | £67,644 |
| Trainee and contributor capacity | Selected as required | £9.24 | 2,880 | £26,611 | £53,222 |
| Total people budget | £99,333 | £198,666 | |||
Named appointments, hours and specialist participation will be confirmed only as membership income and evidence workload justify them. Paid hours will be recorded separately from any pro-bono contribution so that the same work is not recognised twice.