Chalk Streams: Sewage Discharge Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Clive Jones
Main Page: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)Department Debates - View all Clive Jones's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Chalk Streams: Sewage Discharge
Clive Jones Excerpts(1 week, 1 day ago)
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Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harpenden and Berkhamsted (Victoria Collins) on securing the debate, and I thank her for giving way—as I do my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon).
My constituency of Wokingham is blessed with the River Loddon, which flows across its boundaries. It is a rich, biodiverse environment and a reminder of the beauty in our natural world, yet the scourge of sewage discharges persists. Thames Water must make the necessary infrastructure investments to halt its appalling record, but the company’s future is far from certain and those plans may be undermined.
Clive Efford (in the Chair)
Order. Can you bring your comments to a conclusion? This is a very short debate, but there are long interventions.
Clive Jones
Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government must ensure that these investments proceed, no matter the financial position of Thames Water?
Victoria Collins
Absolutely. These are vital investments that have to go ahead.
Locally, many organisations have worked tirelessly for many years to highlight the importance of precious catchment areas and protect them. From the Chiltern Society, the Ver Valley Society, the Chilterns Chalk Streams Project, the River Colne Catchment Action Network and the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust to local volunteers at Batford springs, Friends of the Bulbourne and the Not Bourne Yesterday project—