The water sector has the skills and technologies to exploit the huge reservoirs of heated mine water around the country. Scotland leading the way deploying this technology. 1. Abandoned collieries could hold key to heating UK homes – Geologists aim to tap reservoir in tunnels under Glasgow Guardian Robin McKie Science editor Scientists are finalising plans to […]
Wessex Water have an online platform (EnTrade) with which farmers can bid for money in return for adopting more sustainable farming practices. This system directly reduces the cost of water purification for the Water Company, acts as an incentive for good practice to the landowner, and provides landscape and wildlife benefits for the local population – a […]
Mapping the climate-change threat to Scotland’s salmon rivers Scottish Government: ‘A new online mapping tool will help river managers to plan mitigation work to limit the impact of climate change on Scotland’s rivers and fisheries. Scotland’s rivers account for around three quarters of the UK’s and 30 per cent of European wild salmon production. Freshwater […]
Hey, remember tidal lagoons? It was supposed to be the world’s first tidal lagoon, but years of what looked like ‘ministerial dithering’ on Swansea Bay may now have turned to decisive inaction. So what’s going on? Why isn’t Swansea providing power to 120,000 UK homes right now? One former energy minister thinks climate-denying hard-Brexiteers are […]
Although coastal communities have their fair share of challenges, not least social deprivation, their unique asset – the sea – offers many possibilities. I once heard Steve Fothergill, of Sheffield Hallam University who had studied the coalfields and coastal communities summarise it like this, ‘nobody wants to visit or retire to the coalfields’. The coast […]
The tortuous, one consultation, one item at a time, approach being used by Defra and UK Government might be great at grabbing headlines but it really isn’t going to address the challenge either in terms of ambition or in terms of the speed of response needed. In this CMS News the National Trust and Southern […]
Marine litter presents a global problem, with increasing quantities documented in recent decades. The distribution and abundance of marine litter on the seafloor off the United Kingdom’s (UK) coasts were quantified during 39 independent scientific surveys conducted between 1992 and 2017. Widespread distribution of litter items, especially plastics, were found on the seabed of the […]
Minerals Producers Association The Aggregates Levy (AGL) was established in 2002 to generate revenue from the sales of primary aggregate for use in construction. The AGL has been applied at a rate of £2.00 per tonne since 2009. AGL receipts have typically raised between £300m to £350m pa for HM Treasury (£407m in 2016/17), totalling […]