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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the level of protection of chalk streams in the South Downs.

Restoring England’s internationally important chalk streams is a Government priority. In October last year I co-hosted a conference bringing together key partners whose actions are needed to achieve that priority. A chalk streams working group has been formed and is developing an action plan, a first draft of which will be presented to Government later this year.

A number of river systems drain the South Downs but in many cases only the headwaters would be considered to be chalk streams. The main exceptions are the Itchen and Meon which are sizeable rivers with strong chalk stream character. The Itchen is notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation from source to sea for its national and international importance as chalk stream habitat.

More broadly, River Basin Management Plans set out the actions that are required by a range of organisations and sectors to improve the water environment at a local scale. In addition, the Nitrates (Pollution Prevention) Regulations 2015 and the Farming Rules for Water (2018) aim to reduce agricultural loadings to the natural environment. The Environment Agency is addressing the issue of unsustainable water abstraction, which may also impact on the health of a chalk stream.

Chalk streams are habitats of principal importance under Section 41 of The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, alongside other important river types. The Act requires that the Secretary of State takes steps, as appear to be reasonably practicable, to further the conservation of these habitat types, and promote the taking of similar steps by others. Natural England and the Environment Agency work closely with public bodies and other landowners and stakeholders to advise on and support better protection and restoration of chalk streams, in the South Downs and more widely.