Six new landscape-scale nature recovery projects are launched by Natural England and the UK Government. The multi-partnership collaborative projects covering 176,000 hectares of land across England – from the Tees Estuary to the South Downs – will create improved and better-connected habitats for wildlife and improve public access to nature. The projects will strengthen the […]

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Those that pollute the environment will face unlimited penalties under new legislation announced by the government. The current limit of £250,000 on variable monetary penalties that the Environment Agency and Natural England can impose directly on operators will be lifted, following a government consultation which received widespread public support. This will offer regulators a quicker method of […]

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The government has updated its guidance for applying for bathing water designation in England. The guidance on applying to de-designate existing bathing waters has also been updated. The updates mean that the application process is now easier to follow and ensures the criteria for designation are clearly set out. Defra will use the updated guidance to […]

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The Government have confirmed that the new Sustainable Farming Incentive will start accepting applications in a controlled rollout from August, which will offer farmers additional actions and more flexibility to choose the actions they want to get paid for. Farmers will be paid for any action they take that supports food production and improves farm […]

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The UK government is consulting on the expansion of the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan to cover coastal and estuarine waters. Defra wants to know what you think about these changes, including: expanding the targets in the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan to cover coastal and estuarine waters developing an ecological standard for coastal and […]

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The UK government has launched a six-week consultation on expanding its targets to tackle sewage even further to cover all coasts, estuaries and marine protected sites in England. The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, published in August 2022, set out stringent targets to protect people and the environment, backed up by £56 billion capital investment – the largest […]

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Government has stepped up action to tackle harmful plastics and clean up our waterways by challenging producers of wet wipes to address concerns over how they label their products. Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey has written to wet wipes producers setting out her concerns about the number of wet wipes that are flushed down UK toilets […]

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