As the government this week opted to omit the Water Restoration Fund (WRF) from the Water (Special Measures) Bill currently progressing through Parliament, the Rivers Trust wrote to Water Minister Emma Hardy, calling on her to ensure money currently sitting unused in the Water Restoration Fund is paid out to start the task of reversing harm on the environment.

Photo credit: Alex Mayers

This follows comments made by the Minister in Parliament last week criticising the Fund for having achieved nothing. The Trust says “this comment ignored the fact that not one penny has left the fund as a result of successive Governments, including her own, failing to ensure the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) releases funds to successful projects.”

We recently reported on how the government is diverting monies from the WRF to the Treasury.