The Seabed User and Developer Group (SUDG) brings together the majority of UK marine industries, including renewable energy, marine aggregates, ports, subsea cables, recreational boating and marinas, oil and gas, nuclear energy, and carbon capture storage and utilisation. The group has written to three Secretaries of State to state they do not recommend moving away […]

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The Environment Secretary has announced that the potential civil penalty is to rise from £250,000 to up to £250 million to help bring quicker enforcement action against water companies for causing pollution.     The Minister will bring forward proposals to raise the civil penalty for water companies who pollute the environment by 1,000-fold. The […]

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A fishing ban at Lindisfarne has been opposed by councillors, with claims by one it would turn it “into a museum”, the BBC has reported. The government is exploring creating a Highly Protected Marine Area (HPMA) which would see commercial and recreational fishing halted.   Conservative-led Northumberland County Council heard this week such a move would “devastate” the […]

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The campaigning organisation, River Action, has written to the new UK Prime Minister and Environment Secretary to congratulate them on their appointments and to urge them to take action to address the state of UK’s rivers. Last week we reported on the Environment Minister’s first day in office and his demand for water company chief […]

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The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has launched a 12-week consultation on proposals for new water efficiency labelling to protect water supplies and cut energy bills. Based on 2019 prices, the label could save £125 million on water bills and £147 million on energy bills over 10 years, as well as 1,200 million […]

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On 1st September, Defra published a policy paper on Fisheries Management Plans for England. The Defra note stated: The draft joint fisheries statement listed 43 proposed FMPs. Some will be developed jointly by 2 or more fisheries policy authorities, whilst others will be developed by an authority for its own waters. The Joint Fisheries Statement will set out […]

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Defra have announced the projects that will receive funding from the Landscape Recovery Scheme. The initiative is being hailed by land managers and conservationists as the most “exciting and important” step in a generation to restore lost biodiversity. Projects include recreating water meadows in the Cotswolds, reviving eel-rich waterways in the Severn Valley, and restoring […]

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Concerned members of the public have joined forces with environmental activists to protest the over the mass deaths of marine life and pollution on the Teesside coast.     Tens of thousands of the crustaceans first washed up on shores from Seaton Carew down to Whitby in October 2021. Defra previously said it had “completed […]

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