01 Nov 2023

On Tuesday, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee questioned the Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Dr Thérèse Coffey MP, and the Department’s Permanent Secretary, Tamara Finkelstein. Highlights: She said that the recent floods caused by Storm Babet were exacerbated by the impacts of rain coming from the opposite direction. She admits the Environment […]

01 Nov 2023

The government has published its response to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) 2023 progress report. The CCC’s report was scathing, saying progress was slow and the publication of the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (CBDP), setting out how the government plans to get to Net Zero, raised further concerns, with reduced confidence in the UK […]

01 Nov 2023

Ofwat has published the Monitoring Financial Resilience (MFR) report 2022-23, which aims “to promote a focus on efficient investment that secures long-term resilience and delivers long-term value for money for customers and the environment”. According to the report, the water sector has attracted £4.6bn in additional money from shareholders since 2020, helping to improve the […]

01 Nov 2023

Writing The Mint magazine, Justin Taberham examines the prospects for the UK water sector. Near daily media interest and criticism of water companies’ pollution performance has lately been often stimulated by public reporting or legal action against them. In addition, debt loadings for some companies are at unsustainably high levels and investors have had to […]

01 Nov 2023

Defra has published draft versions of the biodiversity gain plan template and guidance documents for developers and for local planning authorities. These will aid preparation for the commencement of BNG, which is now due to start from January 2024.

01 Nov 2023

From Make Water Famous A study in England has found that freshwater macro-invertebrate richness has increased over the past 30 years, indicating a positive trend in biodiversity. Aquatic macro-invertebrates are insects in their nymph and larval stages, that spend at least part of their lives in water. They play a large role in freshwater ecosystems […]

25 Oct 2023

The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, Woodland Trust and National Trust have published a set of principles for ensuring ‘nature markets’ truly deliver for nature, climate and people. With an estimated £6 billion annual funding gap for UK nature recovery across land and sea, the UK Government has set an ambitious target to grow annual private investment […]