The Independent Water Commission’s final report, published on 21 July 2025, has made headlines for its bold recommendations — the abolition of Ofwat, a radical overhaul of regulation, and a call for deep cultural reform across the sector. Much of the media focus has been on governance, investor accountability and the implications for future delivery cycles. But beneath those headlines lies a more practical question: what does this mean for the people managing land and property in water companies?
With tens of thousands of hectares under management, water company land is no longer a passive asset — it is now central to infrastructure resilience, climate action, and public trust. The report places new expectations on land teams: to plan for the long term, deliver multiple benefits, and collaborate across sectors. Below, we’ve set out 10 key takeaways for land and property professionals — and how tools like LANDARNA can help you lead the change.
Chart showing land ownership across water companies in England & Wales
1. Senior leadership has a duty to act in the public interest
“some stakeholders have called for a greater voice to be given to various independent stakeholders in the decision-making process. For example, placing customer representative, mayors or other monitors on Boards to represent Public Interest and hold management to account”
Executives and Boards are now expected to demonstrate that their land and investment decisions serve broader social, environment and community outcomes – not just shareholder returns.
How LANDARNA helps: LANDARNA’s transparent, evidence-led assessments provide a credible basis for public interest decisions, including auditable trade-off analysis and cross-stakeholder collaboration.
2. Land needs to support national strategic infrastructure objectives.
“a clear set of national priorities for water – covering the water industry, agriculture, land-use, energy, transport, housing development – is essential”
Land should be classified as strategic infrastructure – not just an operational asset. That means land teams are no longer peripheral, they are central to corporate performance and public legitimacy.
How LANDARNA helps: Our platform enables you to surface, visualise and manage land strategically — supporting decisions that reflect both operational and public value.
3. An end to AMP cycles stifling longer term investment
“The Commission has found that the current 5-year price review cycle in the water industry creates significant challenges for long-term planning and investment”
Companies are to be afforded more financial flexibility when planning long term projects to reduce funding uncertainty and the backloading of projects at the end of the AMP.
How LANDARNA helps: Our scenario planning tools allow you to model impacts and opportunities over 25+ years, with integrated sustainability indicators.
4. The End of OFWAT Doesn’t Mean the End of Regulation
“much of what we care about is environmental outcomes under one set of regulators…a single regulator would ensure a ‘whole firm view’ of water company performance and compliance.”
The proposed consolidation of OFWAT, DWI and EA functions will streamline regulatory requirements and reduce barriers to engagement.
How LANDARNA helps: LANDARNA is a flexible platform, able to adapt to evolving performance metrics and regulatory structures.
5. Cost-Benefit Analysis Must Be Stronger and More Transparent
“the systems planner should require, support, and scrutinise a strengthened approach to option development and cost-benefit analysis across water industry planning frameworks.”
The report is critical of current approaches to economic evaluations. Too many decisions are made without robust, consistent or publicly defensible assessments of costs and benefits.
How LANDARNA helps: Built on Green Book Methodology, LANDARNA provides integrated social, environmental and financial impact quantification using the Six Capitals framework.
6. Cross-Sector Collaboration Is Needed
“Strategy should be cross-sectoral, setting out in one place the requirements on all the sectors impacting on or interacting with the water environment.”
The report highlights weak collaboration between utilities and sectors like farming, transport and housing. Water companies must now engage beyond their organisational boundaries and align with local authority planning growth strategies.
How LANDARNA helps: LANDARNA supports multi-stakeholder engagement through shared dashboards, mapped datasets and site-level commentary tools.
7. Natural Capital Considerations Should be the Default Option
“Government should conduct appraisal of economic, environmental and other costs and benefits, including using natural capital approaches.”
The new Regulator will be encouraged to support the delivery of nature-based solutions and natural capital positive scheme as a default option in strategic asset planning.
How LANDARNA helps: LANDARNA supports optioneering of schemes using Natural Capital metrics that align with the Six Capitals framework.
8. Land Need to Support Long Term Sustainability and Resilience
“an opportunity to make the system fit for the long-term, deliver environmental outcomes, restore public and consumer trust in the water system, and provide investors with a fair return on their investment.”
Companies need to improve land utilisation and land-use decisions to ensure that value generation is being maximised (both financial and non-financial).
How LANDARNA helps: LANDARNA allows you to simulate and compare land-use options including development, renewables generation and nature-based solutions – aligning revenue with resilience goals.
9. Data Must be Trusted and Actionable
“restore public trust and address concerns about data reliability”
The report calls out the fragmented and inconsistent nature of asset data across the sector. Decisions much be based on transparent, verifiable and geospatially accurate insight.
How LANDARNA helps: LANDARNA integrates trusted datasets with proprietary overlays, providing a secure, shared, single source of truth aligned with legal ownership.
10. Carrying on as we are is not an option
“plans should outline the timeline for change, transitional arrangements for moving from the status quo to suggested reform, and the expectation upon the regulators.”
Transition plans will be given legal underpinning to ensure effective implementation.
How LANDARNA helps: LANDARNA’s flexibility allow for long term optioneering and delivery ensuring efficient and effective land-use decision implementation.
Every Site is Different — and So Is Every Challenge
If you're navigating land decisions in a changing regulatory landscape, we’d love to show you how our app LANDARNA can help.
Contact us today to arrange a demo and see LANDARNA in action.
