Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the change in the number of miles of (a) public footpaths, (b) bridleways, (c) restricted byways and (d) other public (i) walkways and (ii) cycleways in the UK since 2015.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The public rights of way network provides approximately 140,000 miles of linear access in England and Wales, with 83% found in England and 17% in Wales. In England this consists approximately of:
In addition, when both the King Charles III England Coast Path and Coast to Coast National Trail are complete, the total length of National Trails in England will be 4,952 miles. Permissive paths also give the public access to large amounts of the English countryside.
The National Cycle Network spans 12,000 miles of signed routes for walking, wheeling and cycling including over 5,000 miles of traffic free paths. There are 2,000 miles of canal towpaths in England and Wales.
Information on overall lengths of publicly maintainable cycleways and footways, along with changes to the public rights of way network and other walkways and cycle paths since 2015 in England is held by the respective local authority. Further information on public rights of way and other public paths or routes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Welsh and Scottish Governments and Northern Ireland Executive respectively.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the number of miles of (a) public footpaths, (b) bridleways, (c) restricted byways and (d) other public (i) walkways and (ii) cycleways in the UK.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The public rights of way network provides approximately 140,000 miles of linear access in England and Wales, with 83% found in England and 17% in Wales. In England this consists approximately of:
In addition, when both the King Charles III England Coast Path and Coast to Coast National Trail are complete, the total length of National Trails in England will be 4,952 miles. Permissive paths also give the public access to large amounts of the English countryside.
The National Cycle Network spans 12,000 miles of signed routes for walking, wheeling and cycling including over 5,000 miles of traffic free paths. There are 2,000 miles of canal towpaths in England and Wales.
Information on overall lengths of publicly maintainable cycleways and footways, along with changes to the public rights of way network and other walkways and cycle paths since 2015 in England is held by the respective local authority. Further information on public rights of way and other public paths or routes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Welsh and Scottish Governments and Northern Ireland Executive respectively.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help protect the River Wandle from pollution.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Wandle pollution incident on 18 February was unacceptable. I understand the Environment Agency is investigating.
The Government is going further to clean up our waterways, delivering the Water (Special Measures) Act, giving Ofwat powers to ban bonus payments for water bosses. It also increases the Environment Agency’s ability to bring criminal charges against water executives. We launched the largest review of the sector since privatisation. It aims to build consensus for a resilient and innovative water sector and robust wider regulatory framework.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the levels of air pollution on (a) economic productivity and (b) workforce participation.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government assesses the impact on labour productivity and workforce participation of changes in air pollution from new policies. The Defra's damage cost guidance is used for these assessments and is publicly available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/assess-the-impact-of-air-quality/air-quality-appraisal-damage-cost-guidance.
We estimate that achieving the Environment Act targets for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) will result in an increase in economic productivity valued at £710 million over the period from 2023 to 2040. [Source: The Environmental Targets (Fine Particulate Matter) (England) Regulations 2022].
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve the environmental health of Hogsmill River.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) continues to support volunteers and Citizen Scientists in monitoring water quality across the Hogsmill, focussing on known pollution hotspots. Collaboration efforts have identified misconnecting sewage outfalls causing pollution, which Thames Water have rectified.
As part of the Water Company Price Review (PR19), Thames Water are committed to deliver a river restoration scheme at Kingsmeadow by 2027. There is also a partnership investigation to assess the impacts of groundwater abstraction on natural flows. The river restoration arising from these studies are scheduled for completion in March 2030.
Thames Water are required under PR24 to increase the size of the storm tanks at Hogsmill Sewage Treatment Works to 4 times the current volume. This will reduce the number and duration of storm sewage spills.
River Restoration is supported by the Water Environment Improvement Fund (WEIF). This year the funding has supported:
A recent Enforcement Undertaking (£150,000) for a pollution incident in 2020 required Thames Water to improve the Bonesgate.
The EA is committed to undertake a larger programme of wastewater asset inspections. It will have inspected 4,000 assets in England by the end of March 2025, up from 1389 the previous year, moving towards 11,500 a year by March 2027. This work will see significant improvements to water quality.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve the water quality of chalk streams.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Chalk streams are one of the rarest freshwater habitats on Earth and England is home to 85% of them. The Government is committed to the protection and restoration of our cherished chalk streams.
The best way to achieve this is by fixing the framework for managing our water system. We have also commissioned an independent commission of the water sector to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.