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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what mechanisms exist for local communities to be involved in decision-making about water quality and river restoration in their areas; and whether he plans to expand those mechanisms.

The Government’s Water White Paper committed to strengthening regional water planning to enable a more holistic, coordinated approach to water environment and supply planning. Enhanced regional planning will support delivery of national and local priorities and unlock better collaboration across sectors.

Regional planning will draw on the work of catchment partnerships to ensure that plans are based on local insight and tailored to local needs. The Catchment Based Approach enables community involvement through over 100 catchment partnerships supporting local water quality management and river restoration projects. For example, these partnerships work with the Environment Agency on measures for statutory river basin management plans. The government has doubled funding for catchment partnerships to strengthen local capacity to deliver effective catchment planning.