12 Feb 2019

Tony Juniper announced as preferred Natural England Chair candidate The Environment Secretary has announced Tony Juniper is the preferred candidate for Chair of Natural England. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove, is pleased to announce that Tony Juniper has been selected as the Government’s preferred candidate to take up […]

05 Feb 2019

Defra: Published 19 December 2018 ‘A ban on the outdoor use of metaldehyde, a pesticide used to control slugs in a range of crops and in gardens, is to be introduced across Great Britain from Spring 2020, the Environment Secretary announced today (19 December). The decision to prohibit the use of metaldehyde, except in permanent […]

05 Feb 2019

OFWAT Initial assessment of plans We set high expectations for water companies at PR19. We pushed them to go further than ever before, improving efficiency, customer service and resilience. We asked them to share financing gains with customers and to ensure that dividend and executive pay policy is aligned to delivering for customers. We asked […]

05 Feb 2019

New environmental scorecards flag up gaps in water companies PR19 business plans for 2020-25 New scorecards, analysing how successful water company plans for the upcoming AMP7 2020-25 investment programme are likely to be in protecting and improving the environment, have been published by Blueprint for Water, part of the Wildlife and Countryside Link nature coalition, the […]

05 Feb 2019

National Drought Group – EA Chairman’s Statement – January 2019 Environment Agency: Published 22 January 2019 The National Drought Group (NDG) brings together government departments, water companies, environmental groups and others. The role of the group is to prepare for and mitigate the impacts of dry weather, to coordinate action to maintain water supplies, consider […]

05 Feb 2019

Two items: CIRIA Proposal Guidance on delivery of Natural Flood Management Natural Flood Management requesting expressions of interest CIRIA is looking for expressions of interest from research teams that would like to competitively tender to deliver the technical work for Proposal 2970 Guidance on the delivery of Natural Flood Management (the proposal can be found here). CIRIA would […]

05 Feb 2019

Defra ‘World Wetlands Day (02 February), is a timely reminder of how paramount wetlands conservation is in our fight against climate change and the risk of natural disasters. Organised by the Ramsar Convention, a treaty bringing together 170 countries committed to conserving these precious habitats, World Wetlands Day is a chance to raise the public […]

04 Feb 2019

Unearthed – Greenpeace:  ‘Decision not to adopt EU legal duty to end overfishing from 2020 came after fishing interests asked for target to be watered down The government is on course to ditch a landmark EU legal commitment to end overfishing by 2020, despite the prime minister’s promise not to reduce UK environmental standards after […]