Government’s latest attack on nature targets water pollution rules

Charlotte Owen
, 29 August 2023
Government’s latest attack on nature targets water pollution rules
Kingfisher by Bob Eade

The government has today announced plans to weaken legislation on water pollution in favour of accelerated housebuilding – despite promising not to lower environmental protections or standards.

Our rivers are already suffocating in sewage and the UK is ranked as one of the worst countries in Europe for water quality.

Currently, our most fragile and ecologically important rivers are protected by the Habitats Regulations, and developers building in the most sensitive river catchments must make sure they do not cause an increase in water pollution. Specifically, there is a requirement for them to achieve ‘nutrient neutrality’ to prevent damaging phosphates and other pollutants entering rivers and watercourses. To achieve this, developers are currently required to invest in new wetlands and other measures like planting trees to create buffer zones so that no additional pressure is put on waterways that are already suffering from an overload of farm slurry and sewage. Under the government’s proposals, this requirement will be scrapped. Developers will no longer have to pay for the pollution they cause, and our struggling rivers will be under even more pressure.

This is clearly unacceptable – but it is not yet a done deal. The proposal has been put forward as an amendment to the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill, which must be approved by MPs if it is to come into force. The Bill will return to the Commons when parliament returns from recess. As the information today is only just emerging, we will be looking at the detail to decide our next steps. The health of our waterways - and the people and wildlife that depend on them - must be at the heart of decision making for a sustainable future.

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Comments

  • Peter Ismay:

    To help MPs make up their minds, I suggest some if the water from our rivers needs to be bottled, clearly labelled and offered to each MP, together with questions on the bottle:
    Would you let your children play in this?
    Would you offer this to your pets to drink?
    Would you drink this? Our wildlife has to.
    Would you even water your window boxes with this?
    If ‘No’ is the answer to any of these, should you be approving any amendment that would make matters worse?
    And does ‘No’ to any of these make up your mind for you regarding the proposed amendment to the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill?

    29 Aug 2023 16:08:00

  • James Graham:

    Why not improve our waterways rather than have a legacy of making our natural environment worse?

    30 Aug 2023 21:17:00

  • Nichola Hall:

    Sacrificing our waterways and the associated wildlife for housing is not an acceptable compromise. We will cause untold harm if standards are dropped. Our environment is precious and we need to respect it, not destroy it!!!!

    31 Aug 2023 08:28:00

  • Annie Ward:

    There is nothing more important than clean water. It’s essential for every living creature. For many people in developing countries, clean, drinkable water is still a dream. For a so- called developed country like Britain, to lower its standards and allow the wanton pollution of its waterways beggars belief.

    04 Sep 2023 20:09:00

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