How roadworks and floods affect wellbeing

This research was undertaken by researchers at Simetrica-Jacobs using administrative data made available via the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service (SRS), which is being expanded and improved with ADR UK funding.

Anglian Water commissioned this study, and lead by Richard Houston, Associate Director of Simetrica-Jacobs, to assess the impact of flooding incidences and roadworks on the subjective wellbeing of its customers, as part of its societal valuation programme to feed into the 2019 Price Review (PR19). 

This research draws on two primary sources of data: the Annual Population Survey (APS) and operational data on flooding and roadworks incidences provided by Anglian Water. 

The team estimated the impact of each type of incident on subjective wellbeing (SW) for individuals who experienced incidences in their life. Impact was then converted into a monetary amount using the Wellbeing Valuation (WV) approach, by estimating the equivalent amount of money individuals would be willing to pay to avoid each type of incident. 

The research findings:

1. The wellbeing impact per incident of each type of flooding is considerably higher than for roadworks. 
2. The average internal sewer flooding incident is associated with a higher wellbeing impact per property affected than the average internal water flooding incident. 
3. The average internal sewer flooding incident is associated with a higher wellbeing impact per property affected than the average external sewer flooding incident. 

Simetrica presented the work as a case study in a cross Whitehall roundtable meeting organised by HM Treasury in connection with the launch of its new Green Book guidance on policy appraisal. The final report has been used within Anglian Water to shape their future investment plans presented to Anglian Water's Customer Engagement Forum who provide independent assurance to Ofwat on the quality of Anglian's engagement activities.