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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the introduction of a pair of beavers to the River Glaven in Norfolk in 2022 on (1) water pollution, and (2) flood risk.

In 2021 Natural England issued a licence to the Norfolk Rivers Trust for a fenced beaver enclosure in the upper Glaven catchment. The application was supported by the University of East Anglia, including pre-release ecological, hydrological & social science reports, and proposals to monitor impacts after release. Natural England staff have visited the site on a number of occasions, and observed a series of extensive dams retaining water and sediment in the wooded enclosure. Natural England is also aware of the project’s recent research publication, demonstrating that the beaver wetlands significantly reduced nitrate and phosphate levels in the chalk stream flowing out of the site.