The Government’s Plan for Water
Government announcements on environmental restoration are coming thick and fast this spring – so far this year we have had the Environmental Improvement Plan, a Biodiversity Net Gain update and the launch of Biodiversity Metric 4.0, the Nature Markets paper and the Green Finance Strategy, as well as more detail on Natural England’s Nutrient Mitigation Scheme. Now, in the face of growing public pressure over the condition of our rivers, Defra has published a Plan for Water.
The Plan brings together several existing policies into a targeted package to address the twin concerns of pollution and a resilient water supply. It includes:
Targets for water companies to improve waste water treatment and reduce storm overflows, with more funding for enforcement and proposals to remove the cap on fines. A new Water Restoration Fund will use money from fines to reinvest in improvements to the water environment.
Support for farming to help it meet the targets in the Environmental Improvement Plan of a 40% reduction in N, P and sediment pollution by 2038, including through Slurry Infrastructure Grants, the SFI, options within Countryside Stewardship and advice from Catchment Sensitive Farming advisers, but with the promise of tighter regulation and more inspections to come. There is to be a consultation on extending environmental permitting to dairy and intensive beef farms.
A greater focus on water resources, including reducing leakage from the water network; grant funding to help farmers build on-farm reservoirs; and making water planning a greater priority in new developments, including the use of standardised sustainable drainage systems.
The Plan for Water advocates a catchment-based approach with tailored catchment management plans which will identify priorities for action, enabling catchment groups to deliver more projects.
Farmland will be key to delivering parts of the Plan, with the phrase “nature-based solutions” used 10 times. There is a proposal to align water and flood planning with Local Nature Recovery Strategies and the future Land Use Framework so that projects can be directed to the optimum places, but the competing demands being placed on rural land are highlighted:
“Our goal is that farmland alongside rivers is involved in creating space for nature, reducing run-off, and supporting river recovery in farming and rural landscapes.”
While there is relatively little that is new in this package, it does illustrate the serious policy focus on water which could open opportunities for more catchment-scale schemes for nature recovery where water resources are a particular theme. Some Landscape Recovery pilots are looking at ways to leverage private sector funding to deliver long term plans – more lessons will emerge from the initial pilots over the next 12 months.
4th April 2023