Defra has published its Water abstraction plan 2017. This sets out how the government will reform the way it manages water abstraction, to protect the environment and improve access to water. It has been updated to include the first four Initial Priority Catchments: Idle & Torne in East Midlands, The South Forty Foot in Lincolnshire […]
Government peers have today (Wednesday 16th May 2018) demanded that the government protect the UK’s environmental standards after Brexit, in yet another damaging defeat for the government over the EU Withdrawal Bill. Lords voted 294 to 244 to pass the amendment this afternoon, which seeks to protect existing enforcement powers for environmental rules. It demands that the […]
Defra: ‘A new injection of £10m of government money will help restore more than 10,000 football pitches-worth of England’s iconic peatlands. Peat bogs and fens are important habitats that provide food and shelter for wildlife, help with flood management, improve water quality and play a part in climate regulation. The new funding will help deliver […]
Bob Earll: Well to say that the Government’s consultation hasn’t gone down well with past environmental parliamentarians would be an understatement. A toothless mutt with no legal powers to hold Government to account has prompted Peers to another amendment to the Withdrawal Bill. The environmental principles section is a bit …. thin …. It seems […]
Greener UK ‘Tentative progress on plastics and ‘green Brexit’ held back by absence of environment watchdog Environmentalists argue that improvements in plastics, agriculture and chemicals policy are tempered by continuing uncertainty over how environmental laws will be enforced after Brexit. Tentative progress on plastics and ‘green Brexit’ held back by absence of environment watchdog Environmentalists […]
Bob Earll Waiting for Godot is Beckett’s famous play whose central characters wait but he never turns up. One wonders whether it will be 2042 before Government turns up and does anything on wet wipes in the face of the huge increase in their use and the growing costs to the water industry and environmental […]
The Public Accounts Committee report says preparations for Brexit are being hampered by uncertainty over UK’s future relationship with the EU. Read the report summary Read the report conclusions and recommendations Read the full report: Exiting the European Union: The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and the Department for International Trade Preparations being […]
Jean Luc Solandt, MCS: “A couple of weeks ago Michael Gove invited marine ‘stakeholders’ around his table in Defra to discuss the efficacy (or lack of it) of current MPAs in UK domestic seas. He’s interested in the role and (perhaps) lack of designation of Highly Protected Marine Areas in our seas. 3.5 years after […]