The government has published its long-awaited “five-year delivery plan to restore nature and improve the environmental quality of the air, our waters and our land”.

Key aspects include

• Every household to be be within a 15-minute walk of a green space or water.
• A commitment to restore at least 500,000 hectares (1.2m acres) of wildlife habitat, and 400 miles of river.
• Sewage spillsare to be tackled with upgrades to 160 wastewater treatment works by 2027
• A plan – to be set out in detail later in the year – to tackle the increasing pressures on the water system from pollution, new housing developments and the climate crisis.

On water, the Plan includes some key commitments

• Setting out 10 actions we are taking on water efficiency in new developments and retrofits, including reviewing building regulations and other legislation to address leaky loos and confusing dual flush buttons and to enable new water efficient technologies
• Restoring 400 miles of river through the first round of Landscape Recovery projects and establishing 3,000 hectares of new woodlands along England’s rivers.
• Reforming the current regulatory framework to rationalise the number of regulatory plans and create a more efficient system which better enables joined up working to achieve catchment-level outcomes

Critics pointed to a lack of clear funding or delivery plan. Read more in the Guardian.