18 Feb 2019

Strengthened protection for Essex and Suffolk countryside Natural England is proposing to extend the Suffolk Coast & Heaths AONB  for the first time in almost 50 years.  The move would see the AONB increase by nearly 10%, stretching down to include the Stour Estuary, Samford Valley and Freston Brook Valley areas. Parts of Essex will […]

18 Feb 2019

Defra ‘Fisheries Minister George Eustice announced yesterday that EU vessels will no longer be able to carry out electric pulse fishing in UK waters after Brexit. Meanwhile Europeans reach a complex deal that sees the Dutch pulse fishing fleet reduced. Pulse trawling is a controversial fishing method that uses electrical signals to drive flat fish, such as […]

18 Feb 2019

MMO  Update on fishing for sea bass in 2019 ‘Revised rules relating to fishing for sea bass apply from midnight 31 January 2019. Published 31 January 2019: Following the publication of the 2019 Total Allowable Catch Regulation in the official journal of the European Union, the revised rules relating to fishing for sea bass now apply.  Commercial […]

13 Feb 2019

A recent Parliamentary debate in the House of Commons on the future of the UK water sector saw calls for the water companies in England to be based on the Scottish Water public sector model or the Welsh Water ownership model with “democratic public ownership” via new consumer and employee trusts. Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) […]

13 Feb 2019

£67.4 million Ipswich tidal flood barrier officially opened The new flood scheme will protect 1,600 homes and 400 businesses in Ipswich over the next century. Environment Agency: 8th Feb: The Environment Agency’s new tidal flood defence barrier for Ipswich has been officially opened by Floods Minister, Dr Thérèse Coffey, ensuring more than 1,600 homes and […]

13 Feb 2019

Two articles:   Also see Planetary Boundaries Stockholm Resilience Institute This is a crisis: Facing up to the age of environmental breakdown IPPR – Institute for Public Policy Research     ‘Mainstream political and policy debates have failed to recognise that human impacts on the environment have reached a critical stage, potentially eroding the conditions upon which socioeconomic […]

13 Feb 2019

Reduce flood risk with the Woodlands for Water scheme – The pioneering project run by the Forestry Commission and Environment Agency is once again being offered in the North East and Yorkshire. Forestry Commission and Environment Agency – Published 11 February 2019 Expert advice on creating woodlands that will reduce flood risk and improve water quality is […]