Defra, the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Rural Payments Agency are developing a scheme under the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) called the Water Environment Grant (WEG) to fund improvements to the water environment. The proposed scheme is being designed to support delivery of projects that are currently funded through the Water Environment Improvement Fund (WEIF).

WEIF is grant-in-aid funding currently allocated to the Environment Agency and Natural England from Defra and used to support delivery of a wide range of projects. The Environment Agency primarily use it to fund delivery of Water Framework Directive objectives and Natural England use it to fund achieving objectives of water dependant protected sites (Natura 2000, Ramsar and SSSI).

The priority for the proposed Water Environment Grant would be the delivery of Water Framework Directive outcomes including those of water dependant designated sites.

More information is available from the Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) website here.

Meanwhile, the latest CaBA update has a wealth of useful information, including an infographic celebrating the the benefits of a collaborative approach for people and wildlife. This is supported by a full report and executive summary  which, based on a survey of the102 Catchment Partnerships, has quantified the environmental, social and economic benefits arising from taking a ‘catchment-based approach’ to land and water management. The work was undertaken by the CaBA Benefits Working Group.