17 Oct 2016

According to a report published today, measures to cut down underwater noise could reduce the negative impact that offshore wind power development has on harbour porpoise populations in UK waters. The research, conducted by SMRU Consulting exclusively for WWF-UK, used noise reduction scenarios to identify the benefits of reducing noise by set amounts, against a baseline […]

12 Oct 2016

Property level resilience has been understood and well documented in the UK for 20 years, and an effective supply chain in place for at least 10 years. Yet very little of the £1 billion + paid out annually by insurers to households damaged by flooding is used to install even simple resilience measures that would […]

12 Oct 2016

The image of Carlisle BT car park and its service vans underwater from many years ago, and the lessons of 2007 and the Pitt Review seem still not to have got through. How can it be that there are still 530 critical infrastructure sites still at serious risk? Damned by faint praise reviewers cut to […]

12 Oct 2016

The UK’s major angling and fisheries conservation groups have today published a joint paper setting out their concerns over any moves to water down EU environmental legislation and urging the government to seize opportunities for reform of policies regarding farm subsidies and fisheries management in the wake of the Brexit vote earlier this year. The […]

12 Oct 2016

The Great Repeal looks like providing the focus for many who will seek to protect our environment; as before I will develop this as a theme. Richard Benwell (WWT) provides a fuller list of points to be cautious about. The Green Alliance were quickest off the mark but there are clearly many legal issues to […]

12 Oct 2016

Water UK: 21st Century drainage programme Everyone in the water sector realises the scale of the challenges facing the industry and that is why more than 40 organisations from across the UK have joined Water UK for this 21st Century Drainage Programme. Everyone in the water sector realises the scale of the challenges facing the […]

10 Oct 2016

In fleshing out the elements of the UK Fisheries policy post Brexit there is a mix of trying to appeal to the fishermen’s sense of a desire for change whilst recognising the underlying realities of the existing CFP arrangement and long standing (pre CFP) historical agreements. The House of Lords process (see below) is collecting […]

10 Oct 2016

Water Briefing    ‘Tidal Lagoon Power Ltd has gone out to tender with a design and build contract to construct a turbine manufacture and pre-assembly plant in the Swansea region worth an estimated £22 million. The contract covers the design, construction and commissioning of a turbine manufacturing plant that will house the plant and equipment necessary […]