Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to implement the measures announced in the press release entitled Changes announced to better protect England’s chalk streams, published on 21 September 2023.

On 21 September 2023, the Government brought forward an amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, now Act, to add chalk streams to the definitions of 'environmental protection' and 'natural environment', so that they can be considered when setting the outcomes for a future system of environmental assessment.

The Government is committed to securing better environmental outcomes alongside securing the development we need and is considering how best to reform environmental assessment processes with this objective in mind. This includes whether to take forward the powers in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act to introduce Environmental Outcomes Reports

We continue to direct investments to projects that will improve chalk streams. In 2024/2025, there are over 45 chalk stream projects receiving funding from the government's Water Environment Improvement Fund, each leveraging private investment, alongside that we are investing in catchment level initiatives through the Water Environment Improvement Fund where the Government is funding 45 projects (worth £2.5m of government investment) this financial year (2024/25) that improve chalk streams, each with the injection of private investment.