Found: Both are critical ways for the environmental impacts of water abstraction to be mitigated, whilst ensuring

Found: balance all of those interests, because our water and river environments also have important roles in water

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many licences for abstraction in chalk streams have been rescinded in each year since 2010.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

A total of 110 licences affecting chalk streams have been revoked since 2010. A further 158 have been varied or reduced.

The abstraction licence changes have returned over 37 billion litres of water per year to chalk catchments and prevented a further 110 billion litres per year being abstracted.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department holds data on the number of water abstraction licences that have been issued by the Environment Agency in each year since 2015.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The number of new water abstraction licences that have been issued by the Environment Agency (EA) in each year since 2015 is as follows (the data set may not be complete for December 2023):

In addition to issuing new licences, the Environment Agency also processes applications to vary, revoke, reduce, lapse, vest, apportion and transfer abstraction licences. Under the Water Resources Regulatory Regime, as well as abstraction licences the EA also processes impoundment licence applications. In total the EA has processed 13,844 applications since 2015.

The number of water abstraction licences issued each year varies due to the number of time limited licences that are due to expire in each year. If a licence holder wants to continue to abstract water after the date the licence expires, they must apply to the EA to renew the licence.

New regulations came into effect on 1 January 2018 to improve the management of water resources and to ensure protection of the environment. Licensing exemptions that previously allowed the use of water from ground or surface water sources without the need for a licence were mostly removed. This process is known as New Authorisations. Between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2022, the EA issued 1,322 New Authorisations licences. These are included in the table above.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with representatives of (a) Thames Water and (b) local authorities in west London on Thames Water's proposed planning application for the Teddington direct river abstraction.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Thames Water has a statutory duty to consult with local authorities and water regulators on its Water Resources Management Plan, a long-term strategy for securing water supplies. The plan is further assessed by Government and water regulators before it can be finalised. The Teddington Direct River Abstraction (DRA) is part of this plan, and following robust review, the Secretary of State issued a direction on 22 December 2023 confirming the project is nationally significant.

However, this does not indicate that a Development Consent Order (DCO), which is required before construction can proceed, is more or less likely to be approved. When a DCO application is made, local authorities will have a key role in providing a local perspective on the proposals.

Found: However, to comply with the Eels Regulations, any new water abstraction must include a screen at an

Found: pollution control regime and other environmental regulatory regimes, including those on land drainage, water

Found: pollution control regime and other environmental regulatory regimes, including those on land drainage, water

Found: and vulnerability of the local environment.Factors to consider include impact on;Public and private water

Found: Exclusions: Upstream water abstraction/collection, off -site processing and transport to the hydrogen

Found: However, to comply with the Eels Regulations, any new water abstraction must include a screen at an

Found: Renew a water abstraction licence

Found: Water abstraction would be required, as mains water is not considered an economically viable option.

Found: and vulnerability of the local environment.Factors to consider include impact on;Public and private water

Found: map-browser-with-land-information-search-operations-note-48Are there any public or private water supplies, water

Found: The charges cover all types of environment load from air and water emissions, water abstraction through

Found: Examples of such fee/charges are: i) funds arising from applications for water consumption (sub -national water