Water Restoration Fund: Rivers
(asked on 13th April 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing ring-fenced funding for chalk stream restoration in the Water Restoration Fund.
Answered by
Emma Hardy
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is investing £1.8 million through the Water Restoration Fund (WRF) and Water Environment Improvement Fund (WEIF) for locally-led chalk stream clean-up projects.
On 20 January this year the Government announced that it is reinvesting £29 million from water company fines into local projects to clean up our environment. This includes investment in WEIF to support over 100 projects which will improve 450km of rivers, restore 650 acres of natural habitats and plant 100,000 new trees – and will include projects which support chalk streams.
Chalk streams are incredible source of national pride. As one of Britain’s most nature rich habitats, they support some of our rarest wildlife and the Government is committed to taking measures to protect them.