Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require the Secretary of State to take the necessary steps to nominate the UK’s chalk streams as a serial UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site.
My Bill concerns a rare natural resource of universal value. We in the UK are custodians of 85% of the world’s chalk streams, our equivalent of the Great Barrier Reef. They are timeless jewels of our natural heritage, yet we are allowing them to be drained dry and to have raw sewage dumped on them by water companies that put profit before people and the planet. My Bill would ensure that we finally give chalk streams the same reverence and protections that we give to our greatest cathedrals or monuments. Our streams and rivers are just as much a part of our national identity and international significance.
A number of these rare and beautiful ecosystems run through my constituency of South Cambridgeshire, including Hobson’s brook and the Rivers Cam, Granta, Shep, Rhee, Mel, Wilbraham and Orwell. They stretch far beyond my constituency, from east Devon through the North Wessex Downs and the Chilterns, up to the Norfolk coast, with a southern spur through the South Downs and into Kent, and a north-eastern block in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.
There is nothing more British than standing beside a sparkling river with kids paddling and playing Pooh sticks. As the world around us changes, such scenes have brought joy to generations before us and should bring joy to many generations to come, but our responsibility is far greater still. Article 4 of the UNESCO convention places a duty on our Government to ensure the identification and protection for all humanity of our natural heritage, of which chalk streams are the national jewel. This is a huge opportunity for the Government to advance their Pride in Place programme—pride locally, nationally and internationally.
We are here today in one of our world heritage sites, the Palace of Westminster. We are proud to have 32 world heritage sites in the UK, yet only four are natural world heritage sites. My Bill requires the Government to remedy that and to nominate the network of chalk streams as a serial natural world heritage site. The whole process necessarily takes a few years, but as I shall explain, the goal is clear, the justification is strong and the work must start now. To approve a site for natural world heritage status, UNESCO must be satisfied that it is of outstanding universal value. In David Attenborough’s words in his BBC series “Wild Isles”, they are
“one of the rarest habitats on Earth”,
supporting extraordinary richness and diversity of life, with more plant species than any other type of river in the UK, providing a critical habitat for rare species, such as water voles, white-clawed crayfish, brown trout and a unique chalk stream subspecies of the Atlantic salmon, alongside many specialised invertebrates.
There are only 260 chalk streams worldwide. Their number is small due to the unique conditions and alchemy needed to form them. They exist only where water filters slowly through chalk aquifers and emerges at springs crystal clear, mineral rich and at a near constant temperature throughout the year. Or rather, that is what used to happen. Today, our chalk streams are in a perilous state. Climate change is one of the greatest threats to our nature and wildlife. Extreme droughts are exacerbating the damage already being done. We are letting our streams be drained dry because of untrammelled growth and allowing water companies and agricultural run-off to create a chemical cocktail of sewage and slurry. Wildlife is suffering. The chalk stream Atlantic salmon is close to extinction in some rivers and rising temperatures threaten the survival of trout. That is why this House should make a clear commitment to restoring and conserving these rivers.
The Government have themselves recognised the value of chalk streams, and a Minister once observed that,
“If our chalk streams were buildings, they would be UNESCO heritage sites.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 18 July 2023; Vol. 831, c. 2269.]
Exactly so. UNESCO designation will help to galvanize protection, public engagement and investment in their recovery. The nomination process will take time. Inclusion on the UK’s tentative list is the first step. For that, further research and monitoring, conservation planning and preparation of the case for nomination are needed. A fundamental requirement is the engagement of local government and stakeholders, and networking among them across the broad geographic span of the chalk streams.
In fact, that work has already begun in many communities where they treasure the value of a healthy chalk stream for their physical and mental health and recreation. They are monitoring water quality, acting as stewards in cleaning and maintaining them, and fighting for their survival. These armies of volunteers and civil society groups are incredibly capable and connected, and include the Wildlife Trusts, the national Catchment Based Approach chalk stream restoration group, WildFish and River Action UK. In my constituency—here with us in the Gallery—there are the Cam Valley Forum, the Cam Catchment Partnership, the friends of the River Shep, the Granta and Fulbourn Fen, and the Cambridgeshire climate and nature forum.
We need to see the Government step up and follow through on their assertions about their commitment to chalk stream conservation, because commitment to protection at the national level is an essential prerequisite for nominating a site for world heritage status. The UK has maintained certain legal protections. However, of the 200-plus chalk streams, only 11 are designated as sites of special scientific interest and only four as special areas for conservation. Much more needs to be done to ramp up the action to stop the sewage dumping and the abstraction that we have talked about. That is why I am joining many voices in calling for the listing of chalk streams, alongside ancient woodland, as irreplaceable habitat, which they certainly are, in the national planning policy framework, in line with the Government’s concession and promise during debate in this Chamber to
“make clear, unambiguously, our expectations for how plan makers and decision makers should treat chalk streams.”—[Official Report, 13 November 2025; Vol. 775, c. 407.]
We should also be ringfencing substantial financing from the water restoration fund.
As a nation that prides itself on its love of nature and is preparing to celebrate the 100th birthday of nature’s greatest advocate, Sir David Attenborough, we have a responsibility to act. It is a global responsibility handed to us by the rocks beneath our feet. Let us embrace it and celebrate it. Let us be the global custodians of our very own equivalent of the Galapagos Islands, the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest. This Bill would start the journey to secure UNESCO recognition for one of the rarest habitats on Earth. We hold 85% of the world’s chalk streams. With that privilege comes responsibility. Let us rise to it. I commend the Bill to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,
That Pippa Heylings, Dr Roz Savage, Victoria Collins, Charlotte Cane, Liz Jarvis, Dr Danny Chambers, Vikki Slade, Alex Brewer, Olly Glover, Simon Hoare, Carla Denyer and Chris Hinchliff present the Bill.
Pippa Heylings accordingly presented the Bill.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 27 February, and to be printed (Bill 387).