25 Sep 2024
The government has accepted that not enough progress has been made in improving the water environment in England. The admission came in response to the Office for Environmental Protection’s (OEP) report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive regulations and River Basin Management Planning. Defra’s response recognises that “The government agrees that there has […]
14 May 2024
Deeply concerning’ failures to properly implement regulations designed to protect rivers, lakes and coastal waters in England mean key targets for improvement will be missed, a report by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has found. As part of its role to monitor how environmental laws are working in practice the OEP has carried out […]
22 Nov 2023
Fish Legal and Pickering Fishery Association have won a landmark judicial review in the High Court against the Government and the Environment Agency over its river improvement plans. The Court ruled that the Government, and the Environment Agency, had failed in their mandatory legal duties to review, update and put in place measures to restore […]
23 Aug 2023
The Guardian reports that the nationwide Water Framework Directive (WFD) annual health check of England’s water bodies which used to take place annually, will now take six years to complete, prompting anger from campaigners and politicians, as public alarm grows over the state of the nation’s rivers and coasts. It says that, in 2019, the […]
19 Apr 2023
Over the past few years, the EU (DG Environment) and the OECD conducted a joint project to provide practical guidance to Members States with a view to accelerating the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. The OECD has now presented a report summarising the conclusions of several stakeholder workshops. Implementing Water Economics in the EU […]
05 Jan 2023
The Environment Agency published plans to improve the state of waterways in England over the next five years, backed by £5.3bn of funding. The documents were published on 22nd December and there has been extensive coverage and reaction. The EA’s River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) are a legally-binding environmental planning framework setting environmental objectives to tackle the […]
13 Oct 2022
The Wildlife Trusts are concerned to learn that regulation changes could see more manure being spread on our land due to a 3 month delay on a crucial piece of legislation. The Wildlife Trusts said that ‘We already know that agriculture pollution is more significant in the pollution of our rivers than sewerage. The Water Resources […]
19 Jan 2022
TRANSFORMING SCOTLAND’S WATERS The ecological condition of Scotland’s water environment will be further protected and improved for future generations through a comprehensive new action plan, backed by enhanced resources and a multi-million pound package of investment. The River Basin Management Plans, developed and delivered collaboratively, set out a range of priority measures, including working with land managers to reduce diffuse pollution […]
