05 Jun 2025
Image description: Woodland and bluebells. Image by Charles Miller / Pexels. Irreplaceable habitats threatened by Planning Bill Part Three of Labours’ Planning and Infrastructure Bill has been highly contentious since its introduction, with the UK’s leading nature organisations labelled it “a license to kill” and calling for it to be completely scrapped after the […]
05 Jun 2025
Image description: Aerial view of a reservoir. Image by Kelly / Pexels. Government gives two new reservoirs the go-ahead The Environment Secretary Steve Reed has seized control of the planning process to build two major reservoirs for the first time since the 1990s, in what the government is hailing as “a significant intervention to […]
15 May 2025
Image description: The River Itchen, a chalk stream that runs through Hampshire, bordered by grassy banks and lined with trees. Image by Philip Enticknap. The call for an amendment A cross-party attempt to give chalk streams, a globally rare ecosystem, the strongest protections as irreplaceable habitats failed after all the Labour MPs on the […]
29 Apr 2025
Image description: An aerial shot of a house-build in progress, with scaffolding around the property and two builders on the roof. Image by Steffen Coonan / Pexels. Planning reforms aim to slash delivery time and cost The Labour Government has said their planning reforms will “slash a year off infrastructure delivery”, after announcing it […]
11 Mar 2025
Photo by Steffen Coonan Last year, the UK government announced plans to deliver 1.5 million new homes in England. However, a new report by Public First warns that 61,600 homes are unlikely to materialise in the next five years due to water scarcity, with local authorities in the east and south-east of England facing […]
15 Jul 2024
A coalition of NGOs has called on the new UK Government to expand the title and function of the role of UK Special Representative for Climate Change to Special Representative for Climate Change and Biodiversity. The coalition, led by the Environmental Justice Foundation, have written to the Prime Minister with the following asks: […]
03 Jul 2024
The Labour Party manifesto doesn’t say much about water, but it does include Putting water companies into ‘special measures’. Although there is no detail on what these measures might be, they could include Giving new powers to regulators to block water bosses’ bonuses for pollution Introducing criminal charges for persistent law-breaking and automatic fines for […]
10 Apr 2024
Interesting think piece from The Mint Magazine, covering water industry performance since privatisation, levels of debt and investment, and options for reforming the sector under a new government. The case for renationalisation Another article from Labour Peer Prem Sikka and published in Left Foot Forward argues the case for renationalisation Let Thames Water go bust: […]
