TWO Articles

1.Cross Party MPs headed by Richard Benyon call for a complete overhaul of the outdated water abstraction regime

With the general election now likely to take place as drought conditions threaten parts of the South East of England, a cross party group of MPs headed by former Environment Minister Richard Benyon, and backed by farming and wildlife groups, has called for a complete overhaul of the UK’s outdated water abstraction regime.

Last month Richard Benyon chaired a round table summit in the House of Commons organised by the Angling Trust and WWF-UK to examine possible solutions for better land and water management in order to reduce the impact of agriculture and abstraction on rivers and fisheries. With just 1 in 5 rivers in England and Wales classed in good ecological health, and future opportunities and threats arising from the plans to leave the European Union, all participants agreed that it is vital that the new government takes leadership on water and land management early in the next Parliament.

The groups have now sent a joint letter to Andrea Leadsom, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and to her opposite numbers on the Labour and Liberal Democrat front benches pressing for a commitment from all parties to deliver the long promised reform of our current abstraction regime. This was first promised in the 2011 Water White Paper but excluded from the Water Bill enacted in the last parliament.  However, Water Minister Therese Coffey has written to the Angling Trust saying that abstraction reform will not be implemented until the early 2020s, leaving the country with a water abstraction regime that is no longer fit for purpose. Click here to read more.

2. Meeting of the All Party Water Group exposes Government’s current thinking: You can read a summary of the meeting here:

‘Addressing the group for the first time, Therese Coffey MP said that resilience is at the heart of the Government’s approach to the sector. She said that generally, there has not been enough attention on wastewater and this could be used more effectively to tackle issues such as population growth. She also said that sustainability of drainage is an important issue, and argued that companies must invest proactively to meet current and future needs. She said that Government has challenged the industry to work together on long term issues such as resilience, and noted that collaborative action can reduce demand, increase transfers, and generate new supply options. She was pleased that Government is developing its first national policy statement for water resources, and acting to improve flood resilience. Finally, the Minister hinted that there would not be primary legislation on abstraction reform, but that secondary legislation would be introduced. Click here to read the minutes.