Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
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 improve water quality near Southampton.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Protecting our rivers and water bodies is a top priority for HM Government. We are taking action to address pollution from a variety of sources to improve water quality.
To tackle pollution to waterbodies from agriculture we have almost doubled the funding available for our Catchment Sensitive Farming programme over the next three years. Our new £30 million budget will expand the programme to cover 100% of farmland. We have also made extra budget available this year to the Environment Agency (EA) for 50 extra inspectors to be recruited in this financial year to visit farms posing a risk of water pollution and ensure action is taken.
The EA is working specifically across Hampshire catchments with farmers and landowners to ensure they are compliant with Environmental Regulations. This includes work via the Agriculture Regulatory Taskforce (ART), funded by Defra, to tackle diffuse pollution. On farm visits, EA officers issue actions for farmers to reduce pollution risk and improve the environment.
Chalk streams are both incredibly rare and a hugely important part of our environmental heritage. To protect the iconic chalk streams of the Test & Itchen, the EA is working with regional water resource planning groups to make sure these habitats are rightly prioritised, while delivering a resilient water supply to this growing area.
To tackle water pollution from sewage discharges, we have recently published our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan. Our Plan sets new strict targets on water companies to reduce sewage spills and will secure the largest infrastructure programme in water company history - £56 billion capital investment over 25 years. Water companies are also required under the Environment Act to monitor the water quality impact up and downstream of all their assets. This monitoring data will be used by the EA to assess compliance with permits.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help enhance chalk streams located in Hitchin and Harpenden constituency, including in the river (a) Hiz, (b) Oughton, (c) Purwell, (d) Mimram, (e) Lea and (f) Ver.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government and the Environment Agency (EA) is implementing actions identified in the Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) Chalk Streams Restoration Strategy, including improving its assessment of the flow pressure in chalk streams and working with partners to identify actions to improve flows.
Within the Hitchin and Harpenden constituency, the EA is working with the Catchment Partnership to develop river restoration projects on chalk streams near Whitwell. Further downstream on the River Mimram, it is engaging with landowners and working with Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust on sites at Digswell and Panshanger Park to narrow over wide and straightened channels.
On the River Lea, the EA is working with Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust to improve sites at Batford Springs Nature Reserve and at the Meads in Wheathampstead, stabilising banks and improving in channel and bankside vegetation.
On the River Ver, the EA is working with St Albans District Council to revitalise the water environment in Verulamium Park, restoring the River Ver to a more natural chalk stream, more resilient to climate change, and better able to support iconic chalk stream biodiversity. It has also been engaging with the Gorhambury estate to develop restoration projects.
The EA is currently in discussions with Affinity Water concerning an environmental improvement project for the River Hiz and securing funds though Ofwat’s Price Review process. In addition, since 1996, an augmentation scheme has been operational for the Rivers Hiz and Oughton to supplement flows from groundwater in times of dry weather to mitigate against the impact of abstraction.
The Government and the EA will continue to work with Water Resources East and Water Resources South East to define the long term environmental ambition for the area, including that for chalk streams.
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, on how many occasions he and Ministers from his Department have visited chalk streams since 1 April 2022.
Answered by Steve Double
Several present and former Defra ministers are lucky to have globally rare chalk streams in their constituencies and visit them regularly. I intend to visit a chalk stream at my earliest opportunity following recess.
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 recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of water abstraction on chalk streams.
Answered by Steve Double
Restoring England's internationally important chalk streams is a Government priority. The Environment Agency (EA) continually assesses and monitors ground water levels that impact chalk streams. This long term monitoring has shown that water abstraction is potentially having a negative impact on a third of all chalk rivers. It is because of this that an updated assessment of all of England's rivers will be included in updated River Basin Management Plans to be published later this year.
The EA has been working with the Chalk Stream Restoration Group to identify and address the issues that are preventing chalk streams from being in good ecological health. A Chalk Stream Restoration Strategy was published in 2021 and government will publish its response to the Strategy later this year.
The EA works closely with water companies on Regional Water Resources Plans, to set out how abstraction impacts on the environment can be reduced, and also how population growth and climate change can be accommodated without causing environmental deterioration. We expect chalk streams to feature in this work. Regional Water Resources Plans will be consulted on this autumn.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
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 plans to take steps to help prevent excessive water abstraction in areas with high water stress.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency regulates the abstraction of water from rivers, lakes and groundwater across England on behalf of the government. Defra and the Environment Agency launched the Abstraction Plan in December 2017 setting out how the Environment Agency will deliver abstraction reform to protect the environment from unsustainable abstraction. The Abstraction plan is now being implemented. In addition, the Environment Agency is updating its local Abstraction Licensing Strategies for all catchments by 2027, to set out how much water is available for abstraction whilst taking account of local environmental needs.
Furthermore, Water Resources Management Plans, produced by water companies, set out how water supply needs are met from sustainable sources over a 25 year period. New Water Resources Management Plans will be consulted on at the end of 2022.
The Environment Agency's Restoring Sustainable Abstraction programme has already returned 49 billion litres of water to the environment, including 37 billion litres of water to chalk streams since it started in 2008. During this time the Environment Agency has removed the risk of approximately 900 billion litres of water being abstracted from unused or underused abstraction licences.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
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 make it his policy that all chalk streams are to designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
SSSI designations aim to generate a representative network and the international importance of Great Britain for chalk streams means they are already well-represented in the SSSI series. Our Nature Recovery Green Paper [published on 16 March] explores how the current protected sites system in England could be improved to better promote nature recovery, particularly in relation to our commitments to protect 30% of land by 2030 and ensure species recovery.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much raw sewage has been discharged into chalk streams in the last 12 months.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency does not hold the data for the volume of sewage released by storm overflows.
Working with water companies, the Environment Agency has concluded a programme to install Event Duration Monitors (EDM) on the vast majority of storm overflows, just over 80% of overflows in England, by the end of 2020. These monitors provide a robust and consistent way of monitoring how often and for how long storm overflows are used but do not measures volume. By the end of 2023, the remaining number will be monitored.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 effect of construction work related to HS2 on England’s chalk streams.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) has given approval to High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd to complete a number of construction activities in the Chilterns (including tunnelling) under Schedule 33 of the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act 2017.
The EA determines applications on a technical basis using information and data to inform judgements. This process ensures that the applicant has identified and assessed any potential impacts on the water environment and ecology along the route of HS2. Any approval issued must contain appropriate conditions to protect against these impacts.
HS2 Ltd has been doing baseline monitoring of ground and surface water along the route of HS2 since 2017. This data supplements the long-term monitoring done by the EA and its contractors. HS2 monitoring will continue during and post-construction.
The EA will continue to work with HS2 Ltd and its contractors to ensure they comply with the approval conditions and that all risks to the environment continue to be minimised. The EA has regulatory powers of enforcement to use if necessary.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will issue guidance on how local authorities should balance achieving the Government's housing targets set by its standard methodology with the protection of chalk streams in areas of water stress.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government does not set local housing targets - the standard method for calculating local housing need is the starting point in the process of planning for the right number of homes, but it is not the housing requirement. Housing requirements are decided by local authorities when they write their local plan, taking account of constraints they face locally, including specific environmental constraints. Each plan is subject to a public examination in front of an independent Inspector, who plays an important role in examining plans impartially to ensure that they are legally compliant and sound
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is committed to working jointly with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to deliver the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan ambitions for achieving clean and plentiful water. In July, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs presented a written statement on reducing demand for water and we will continue to work closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on matters pertaining to local authority guidance and building regulations.
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many times since 1 January 2010 (a) the Environment Agency, or (b) any other government agency, was alerted of a possible breach in licensing conditions for water abstraction or discharge in chalk rivers and streams within (i) the Itchen, and (ii) other chalk stream catchments, (2) the dates and locations of such possible breaches, (3) what tests were conducted in response, (4) what the results were of any such tests, and (5) what steps were taken as a result of any breaches to licensing conditions that were identified (a) to penalise the perpetrators, and (b) deter further breaches.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.