Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on adding chalk streams to the list of irreplaceable habitats in the National Planning Policy Framework.

Chalk streams are a large source of national pride. As one of Britain’s most nature-rich habitats, they support some of our rarest wildlife.

During the passage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill last year, the Government committed to consulting on National Planning Policy Framework to give explicit recognition to chalk streams in the new suite of planning policies for decision making and seek to ensure that chalk streams are explicitly recognised as features of high environmental value. Also, Local Nature Recovery Strategies statutory guidance will be amended to encourage chalk streams to feature prominently.

The Government has has also set out clearer expectations for development proposals to assess and mitigate adverse impacts to water quality on these sensitive waterbodies.

The consultation on changes to the NPPF is available here: National Planning Policy Framework: proposed reforms and other changes to the planning system - GOV.UK and will remain open for responses until 10th March 2026.