Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to introduce legally binding targets for the reduction of untreated sewage discharges into chalk streams.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan targets improvements at 75% of high-priority sites, including chalk streams. This ensures that they are prioritised for improvement from the £11 billion investment to upgrade nearly 3,000 storm overflows across the country.
The Plan, alongside the Water (Special Measures) Act, strengthens enforcement by giving regulators greater powers to hold polluters accountable. This marks the biggest boost in enforcement in a decade, helping protect these iconic British habitats for future generations.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to implement the Catchment Based Approached (a) Chalk Stream Restoration Strategy 2021 and (b) Chalk Stream Strategy Implementation Plan 2023.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) group has led fantastic work in developing the Chalk Stream Restoration Strategy and Implementation Plan, and I particularly want to thank them for all their great work in restoring these important habitats.
Restoring our chalk streams to better ecological health is a core ambition of our overall programme of work to clean up rivers, lakes and seas for good. Alongside our programme of reforms, Water companies will invest £2 billion over the next 5 years to deliver more than 1,000 targeted actions for chalk stream restoration as part of our Plan for Change. The government is investing £1.8 million through the Water Restoration Fund and Water Environment Improvement Fund for locally led chalk stream clean-up projects across affected regions.
Our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan ensures chalk streams are prioritised for improvement as part of the record £11 billion investment to improve nearly 3,000 storm overflows nationwide.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to protect the ecological status chalk streams in legislation.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Cleaning up our waters, including iconic sites such as chalk streams is a top government priority. That is why on 23 October 2024, the Secretary of State announced the launch of an independent commission to fundamentally transform how our water system works.
Fixing the systemic issues in the water system is essential to address the multiple pressures facing chalk streams, namely over abstraction, phosphorous pollution and physical modifications of habitats. Restoring our chalk streams to better ecological health is part of our overall programme of reforms for the water sector.
Over the next five years water companies will spend more than £2 billion to deliver over 1,000 actions for chalk stream restoration and reduce their abstraction from chalk streams by 126 million litres per day. The Government is investing £1.8 million through the Water Restoration Fund and Water Environment Improvement Fund into chalk stream projects.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Chalk Stream recovery pack.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Cleaning up our waters, including iconic sites such as chalk streams is a top Government priority. That is why on 23 October 2024, the Secretary of State announced the launch of an independent commission to fundamentally transform how our water system works.
Fixing the systemic issues in the water system is essential to address the multiple pressures facing chalk streams, namely over abstraction, phosphorous pollution and physical modifications of habitats. Restoring our chalk streams to better ecological health is part of our overall programme of reforms for the water sector.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support chalk stream restoration in (a) Hogsmill River and (b) the rest of the South East.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is working with the Chalk Stream Restoration Group, and other partners, to protect and restore chalk streams across the South East. For example, it is ensuring that water companies have ambitious but affordable programmes that address the threats to chalk streams, including restoring sustainable abstraction in chalk catchments and reducing the impacts of discharges from storm overflows. It also continues to work with partners to lead or support numerous chalk stream restoration projects.
The Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) is a programme used to continuously improve the water industry and thus protect our water and waterbodies. There are 8 WINEP water quality actions that Thames Water will undertake in AMP8 (between 2025 and 2030) at Hogsmill. The EA have also been supporting species recovery of water voles on the Hogsmill.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will work with National Highways to ensure that runoff from the M4 does not pollute the chalk streams in Newbury.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
National Highways (NH) is well aware of this issue, and in 2024 treated a site along the M4 that was found to be discharging into the River Lambourn chalk stream near Newbury. More generally, the Department is working closely with NH to address the risk of water pollution from the strategic road network and supports the prioritisation approach taken by NH in its efforts to mitigate pollution. This focuses on addressing verified high-risk outfalls as defined in NH’s 2030 water quality plan. The DfT and NH both recognise the importance of protecting chalk streams and NH is undertaking a review of its technical standard for road drainage and the water environment to give greater prominence to chalk streams.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will (a) continue and (b) improve the Chalk Stream Restoration Strategy.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Cleaning up our waters, including iconic sites such as chalk streams is a top government priority. That is why on 23 October 2024, the Secretary of State announced the launch of an independent commission to fundamentally transform how our water system works.
Fixing the systemic issues in the water system is essential to address the multiple pressures facing chalk streams, namely over abstraction, phosphorous pollution and physical modifications of habitats. Restoring our chalk streams to better ecological health is part of our overall programme of reforms for the water sector. Alongside this, we are continuing to direct investment to projects that will improve chalk streams. Through the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP), over 1000 improvement projects are planned within chalk stream catchments between 2024-2029.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for the publication of the chalk stream recovery pack.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Restoring our chalk streams to better ecological health must be part of our holistic programme of reforms for the water sector, including:
The Government’s wider agenda to reset the water sector and fix the systemic issues in the water framework, continued investment in actual projects at the catchment level, committing to end damaging abstraction of water from rivers and groundwater, driving home the responsibilities for responsible authorities around protected landscapes, many of which feature chalk streams.
Asked by: Satvir Kaur (Labour - Southampton Test)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on the chalk stream recovery pack for the river Test and Itchen.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Cleaning up our waters, including iconic sites such as chalk streams, is a top Government priority. That is why on 23 October 2024, the Secretary of State announced the launch of an independent commission to fundamentally transform how our water system works.
Fixing the systemic issues in the water system is essential to address the multiple pressures facing chalk streams, namely over abstraction, phosphorous pollution, and physical modifications of habitats. Restoring our chalk streams to better ecological health is part of our overall programme of reforms for the water sector. Alongside this, we are continuing to direct investment to projects that will improve chalk streams. Through the Water Industry National Environment Programme, over 1000 improvement projects are planned within chalk stream catchments between 2024-2029.
Natural England is supporting the Environment Agency’s Test and Itchen Restoration Strategy. The aim of the project is to restore the Test and Itchen to a more functioning chalk stream habitat. This involves projects to improve the river habitat and reconnecting the river with its floodplain. The work undertaken to date has improved the chalk stream habitat, creating a more resilient river for the species which rely on it such as southern damselfly, invertebrates and fish species such as Atlantic salmon.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the ecological vulnerability of chalk stream habitats; and whether his Department plans to develop a national strategy for their (a) protection and (b) restoration.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Cleaning up our waters, including iconic sites such as chalk streams is a top government priority. That is why on 23 October 2024, the Secretary of State announced the launch of an independent commission to fundamentally transform how our water system works.
Fixing the systemic issues in the water system is essential to address the multiple pressures facing chalk streams, namely over abstraction, phosphorous pollution and physical modifications of habitats. Restoring our chalk streams to better ecological health is part of our overall programme of reforms for the water sector.
Alongside this, we are continuing to direct investment to projects that will improve chalk streams. Through the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP), over 1000 improvement projects are planned within chalk stream catchments between 2024-2029.