Image description: River running through stones. Photo by kazuend on Unsplash

The Environment Department (Defra) said more than £100 million in fines and penalties levied on water firms for breaches such as illegal sewage spills since October 2023, as well as future fines, will be reinvested in projects to clean up England’s waters.

The promise to reinvest money from fines into work to improve the environment was first made by the Conservative government in 2022, with local groups, farmers, communities and landowners invited last year to bid for an £11 million ringfenced pot of penalties levied since April 2022. There were some concerns that the Labour government would attempt to backtrack on this pledge, however their announcement comes as public anger has continued to mount due to problems engulfing the water sector, including degraded and polluted state of rivers, lakes and coasts, rising bills, bosses’ bonuses and shareholder payouts.

There were reports that, after the election, the Treasury was seeking to divert the money elsewhere, but Defra has confirmed the money will be directed toward environmental projects as part of its efforts to sort out the water sector’s pollution problems.