Water (Special Measures) Bill [HL]

Lord Gascoigne Excerpts

Report stage
Wednesday 20th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

My Lords, my Amendment 49 puts a clear and unambiguous environmental duty on Ofwat. It gives the authority a primary duty to protect the environment. I am well aware that the Government probably will come round to the Greens’ way of thinking in 10 or 15 years and that perhaps this side of the Chamber might come round to our way of thinking in 25 or 30 years, but we have to care now about our environment and our planet. What we have passed so far, although very welcome, is just not enough.

As the noble Baroness, Lady Willis, said, natural flood management is proving to be a cost-effective way of reducing flood risk, far cheaper than traditional construction involving lots of concrete. Water companies should be investing in these nature-based solutions to reduce the infrastructure cost of handling service water run-off, because every litre of water that soaks into the ground is a litre of water that does not flood into the water treatment system.

I have two requests of the Minister. Will the government amendments now provide a baseline so the Minister can take forward a piece of work to expand the use of natural flood management, especially where it is significantly cheaper than other methods? Secondly, will the Government please put these climate and nature amendments on the face of their Bills at drafting stage, rather than having to amend them down the line?

[Lord Gascoigne (Con)]

My Lords, it is always an absolute pleasure to follow the noble Baroness. I was going to call her “my noble friend”—but not quite yet. I am delighted to speak to my Amendment 55. I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Roborough, who has also signed the amendment, and I thank all noble Lords who spoke to this in Committee.

Like so many other noble Lords today, I join in the great “love-in” for the Minister. All I will say, speaking from experience, is “Enjoy it while it lasts”. I pay tribute to the Minister and the officials who have engaged with me over the last few days since we last met. Echoing words that have already been said, looking back to where we were in Committee on this amendment, and on nature and the environment as a whole, the Government have listened and moved quite a lot. Collectively, we pushed, and the Government have listened. I think a lot of this comes down to the Minister, who cares about it and gets it.

Water (Special Measures) Bill [HL]

Lord Gascoigne Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 30th October 2024 Lords Chamber

Amendment 90 seeks to tighten up the reporting, so there is no way in which these things can just pass by without anybody looking at them in any detail for years or any end date being assessed. How is it progressing, and are any modifications that need to be made being reported? I hope the Minister will look at this as what I would call a tidying-up amendment to make what is on the statute book actually mean something.

[Lord Gascoigne (Con)]

My Lords, I declare that I am a member of Peers for the Planet and have been a long-time supporter and member of the Conservative Environment Network. It is a great pleasure to speak on this set of amendments, led by the phenomenal noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb, and to speak to Amendment 104, which is in my name as well as that of my noble friend Lord Roborough and the noble Baroness. I thank them both for their support, especially my noble friend on the Front Bench who has, both in government and opposition, been on the receiving end of my incessant and often incoherent rants about all things nature and the environment, as well as much else besides. I thank Wildlife and Countryside Link, the Rivers Trust, CEN and others who have provided helpful information for this debate.

The Committee will be pleased to know that I am not going to spend too long on why we are looking at the Bill. We all know that, collectively, the industry needs to improve and, truth be told, that it is not the water companies alone which are at fault here. We know the sad circumstances we are fighting to fix in wildlife, nature, biodiversity and water quality, because when a report this year from the Rivers Trust notes that not a single stretch of river in England is in good overall health, something has to change.

There are many great amendments in this group, all of which seek to ensure that water companies give more care to delivering a better environment in using their resources. My amendment builds on Amendment 37 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Jones—which, it goes without saying, I support—to focus on nature. If we look across the entirety of the Committee, many amendments seek to place greater emphasis on the importance of the environment. Some amendments ensure the inclusion of nature-based solutions when drawing up a pollution incident reduction plan; some address the industry, as well as regulators; some seek to ensure the delivery of existing pollution reduction plans. Amendment 104 seeks to build on them all by starting at the beginning: to deliver change by putting nature recovery front and centre, inserting nature at the outset and ensuring that licences cannot be granted or proceed unless companies look first at nature-based solutions targeted at reducing flood risk, improving water quality and benefiting nature restoration.

The second part of the amendment—if I may so, it chimes with what was so eloquently articulated by the noble Baroness, Lady Young of Old Scone, on Monday and today by the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter—looks to the regulators to ensure that they too give regard to nature-based solutions and do not penalise or discourage companies that seek to invest in them if they so wish and feel that is right for them. From a purely nature point of view, we cannot achieve our goals without private support and investment.

Turning to the rationale, some may say that this is all pie in the sky—we have heard similar voices in this House—that nice-to-have yet not essential schemes would cost the company itself, and that bills would have to go up just for some nice cuddly green notion. What evidence is there that it works and why do we care? We just want lower bills and clean water.

We have covered the importance of nature so much in this stage of the Bill. The noble Baroness, Lady Willis of Summertown, fired the starting gun in Committee with a superb rallying cry for her amendment on nature and biodiversity. I will not repeat what has been said by others far better qualified than me about why nature matters. I will focus more on why there are wider benefits to both the consumer and the company, beyond helping nature alone. As the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, said at Second Reading, nature-based solutions do not just help with things such as overflows; there are wider benefits to society too.

Turning to the costs, a few years ago research from across the pond suggested that nature-based solutions could be up to 50% cheaper yet provide around 30% better value for money. While we still have a low uptake to prove that, there are some successes. I was reading the other day about a scheme a water company funded using wetlands to filter water in a natural way. They do not require as much infrastructure and energy but also reduce costs. As good as all that is, it is now a new habitat for native trees, plants and wildlife.

Another company, as noted at Second Reading by the noble Earl, Lord Devon, who is not in his place, does incredible work restoring peatlands, which help to filter and hold water, as well as planting trees and building ponds. Another uses wetlands for wastewater treatment and has shown that to cost 35% less than building a conventional treatment solution; its operational costs are 40% lower too.

In giving these examples—there are others—I am not saying that it is now all perfect. It clearly is not, but they show that some are trying and, crucially, some show that it works, but much more needs to be done. My amendment does not state that nature is the only solution. It insists that it should be considered and be part of the solution, working alongside modern infrastructure, not just to tackle water quality and purification but to help tackle floods and restore nature. We can get there; we just need to give it a kick start.

Before I conclude, I want to make one general point. It has been noted that the Bill is focused on punishments for bad behaviour and past digressions. I respect the revolutionary zeal of some in this House—I really do —and often have to pull myself back from the barricades whenever I think about this issue. As right as it is to punish when things go wrong, we must also bring about regime change from the outset by ensuring, first, that the water companies come up with plans to mitigate and to improve nature and the environment; and, secondly, that the regulators give them the ability to pursue those plans. Even today, the Chancellor talked of pollution in rivers in her Budget Statement. This amendment seeks to tackle that.

As we have said, this country’s population is going only one way. We need to build more homes and put in the infrastructure, and to work with the industry and the private sector to make changes to ensure that the environment is improved. This amendment does not wreck the Bill; it works with the spirit of it. It is not about when something goes wrong but how to prevent it in the first place. With respect, we do not need to wait for the commission to report, either. I know that the Minister cares deeply about nature and we are told that the Government do, too. They have the power, so let us make it happen. I hope that the Government will support this amendment.

[Baroness Boycott (CB)]

I rise briefly to support the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, on the use of nature-based solutions. The noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, mentioned a river in Somerset. I am quite connected with a group which is changing the path of the River Exe as it goes into Tiverton, where it floods every year. They became a group because of a scheme Defra ran about three years ago offering money. The point about these schemes is that they absolutely depend on communities; they have to start from the ground up. My friends have had to liaise with all the farmers in the valley and have finally got them all to agree to give one or two fields so that the river can meander—and there are plenty of beavers involved. The result will be to help the school their kids go to in Tiverton, which floods every year. They have spent a lot of their own money working out what it will actually do. It will reduce the flooding in Tiverton by around 50% to 60%. At the same time, the farmers will get money from biodiversity net gain, and it will help them fill in the forms.

My plea to the Government is: wherever the money comes from—from Defra or the water companies—make sure there are channels for it to get back to the communities that make these schemes happen. They cannot just be legislated for; they have to happen from a group of people who really care.

Environment and Climate Change Committee Report: An Extraordinary Challenge: Restoring 30 per cent of our Land and Sea by 2030

Lord Gascoigne Excerpts

Wednesday 11th September 2024 Grand Committee

[Lord Gascoigne (Con)]

My Lords, I declare that I am a member of the Conservative Environment Network and Peers for the Planet. I pay tribute to the committee for its thorough report and for holding the feet of government to the fire in delivering this vital mission, and to the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, the chair, for a frank and moving rallying cry, kick-starting what has been a fantastic debate so far.

This country has long played a leading role around the world in tackling biodiversity loss and improving the environment. A lot comes down to the many fantastic organisations and campaigners in our arsenal, but working hand in glove you need a Government to lead. I pay tribute to my former colleagues and friends who worked tirelessly to achieve successful COPs in both Glasgow and Montreal; this goes especially to my very good and noble friends Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord Sharma, who is newly ennobled, both of whom I worked with especially closely on this whole agenda while I was privileged to be in the Foreign Office and Downing Street.

Will the Minister set out what the Government will push at the upcoming biodiversity COP? More broadly, is there any indication of what the Government’s review of the environmental improvement plan means in practice? I hope that it means that we can expect not just more deliverables but more funding.

There are three specific areas that I would like to address. The first relates to access to nature. The report notes the importance of nature corridors and connectivity between sites. The previous Government set out the nature recovery network. To what extent will this Government commit to that as part of their review, and perhaps even commit to go much further by strengthening this network?

A study from Wildlife and Countryside Link has shown that the most deprived communities in England are more than twice as likely to live in areas with a low amount of natural space per person. I know that the Government have scrapped the levelling up department, but the concept of levelling up should still be delivered. This dovetails with the whole debate on the green belt—and I know that not all the green belt is the Chilterns, but there is now an open tension between building on the green belt and the need to protect and enhance it and create habitats that are publicly accessible.

We have to build more homes, but we can also improve green spaces. Many cities and urban centres have potential locations nearby, where disused and ugly sites can become accessible woodlands, wetland and other green spaces. That all takes me back to when Labour was last in power and I was a little bit younger, when from memory I think there was a similar push. I remember Lord Prescott saying, “The green belt is Labour’s achievement, and we intend to build on it”.

To what extent is Defra working with MHCLG on the revised NPPF? What specific action is Defra taking to improve nature and biodiversity provision on the green belt? Do the Government believe in the target of living within 15 minutes’ walk to a green space or water, as set by the previous Government?

On the second area which I wish to discuss, the report and then Government talked about data and citizen science, ensuring that the public have better understanding of sites. I think that we can go much further and really focus on what more we can do for young people, in echoing what I thought was a beautiful speech from the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Norwich.

I shall give a personal reflection. I am lucky to be the father of two very young daughters. Sophia is three and Helena is seven months. Out on walks with the dog or in the garden, my eldest often fills my pockets with snail shells, feathers, leaves and acorns; to her, these are the most precious things at that time. She does not think twice about putting her bare hands in the soil or jumping around in muddy puddles. We are lucky enough to have a reasonably sized back garden where Sophia and I have planted plants since the day she could walk, made ponds from old washing-up tubs and sown flower seeds and grass in areas and let them go wild—and we probably now have more bird feeders than there are in London Zoo. She and I often sit to watch the birds in the garden, sniff flowers, see dragonflies zoom around, enjoy the bats at night and watch the cameras to see the foxes and hedgehogs—and we both have, just in the last few days, seen not just frogs but our first toad.

Yes, of course I would like to take credit for that— I love it; my dad did the same for me, and it did stick eventually—but why is it that, when we grow a little bit, we lose interest in the outdoors? A few years ago, a study showed that there is a sharp dip in people’s connection with nature from the age of 11 onwards, with a slow recovery around the age of 30; the average age for nature-connectedness was 61. What can we do to maintain that fascination and longing throughout young people’s lives?

When I was in government, I often sat in debates on education with my noble friend Lady Barran; she would frequently talk about the incredible work that some schools were doing to inspire children and bring nature into the curriculum. One fantastic initiative caught my eye. Last year, the National Education Nature Park was launched to inspire young people not just to learn about biodiversity but to take action locally, to improve their school and to bring nature closer. I am sure that the Minister is aware of that scheme; I hope that the department will work with the DfE to continue to encourage more schools, nurseries and colleges to take it on so that we not only engage young people but inspire them, educate them and give them an understanding of our own environment, of nature, of what food is and of where food comes from.

That brings me to my third point, which concerns farming. Noble Lords—especially those on the two Front Benches, particularly on this side—will, I am sure, have come across James Rebanks and one of his incredible books, English Pastoral. The opening chapter is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. He talks about his journey with farming and nature, starting as a young kid, as something that is passed down through generations yet represents the bond between man, nature and the countryside. It reminded me of my own youth with my dad up in Lancashire, rocking up to farms to see his pals, being dragged through fields and hills and wading through mud. In truth, at the time, as he drove round the country lanes and roads in a mudded-up Land Rover, I never really understood nor appreciated the beauty of the land around me. I also never appreciated how there is a world beyond the towns and cities; how the bond, perhaps better called a contract, between man and the land and seas around us works; or why all this matters.

Other noble Lords have mentioned farming. It goes without saying that we need farmers for their knowledge and understanding—not to mention what they produce. The previous Government introduced the environmental land management schemes. As the report acknowledges, they will make a contribution to nature recovery; some sites could be included in the 30 by 30 target. However, as has already been noted, just as the uptake is rising after yet another stressful year, the Government have taken £100 million out of the budget. Yes, this scheme is new, and all new things can be improved and take time to embed, but what does that say about this Government’s faith in farming, never mind nature? Can the Government assure farmers that they remain committed to farming and agriculture, and that ELMS and their funds will remain in place? Is there any broader reassurance against any future cuts to Defra as a whole? Surely, if it is the right thing, the Government should support the scheme wholeheartedly—not just because it is right to give support to farmers but because it is right for nature. After a period of change and challenges, certainty for farmers matters.

We need to go much further, as we have all said. We need not just to build on the green belt but to improve it. We need not to take money away from farmers but to help them produce food and increase biodiversity. We need not to treat nature and wildlife as a “nice to have” but to put natural capital at the heart of policy across government.