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 plans to take to restore the condition of groundwater-dependent wetlands to achieve Local Nature Recovery Targets in Worcester.

Recovering nature is a key priority for this Government and wetland habitats are an important component of that.

Under the Restoring Sustainable Abstraction Programme, the impact of Public Water Supply groundwater abstraction on river flows and wetlands has been investigated in a number of areas across Worcestershire. Through this programme the Environment Agency have worked with Severn Trent Water to look at their impact on water levels and flow and have taken steps to address this. Natural England are also working closely with the Environment Agency and Severn Trent on the Water Industry National Environment Programme to deliver improvements to protected sites across Worcestershire.

Identifying priorities for nature is a key objective of Local Nature Recovery Strategies. Defra looks forward to seeing the finished Worcestershire Local Nature Recovery Strategy which is being prepared by Worcestershire County Council as the responsible authority.