Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the planning system in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on chalk streams protection.

Cleaning up our waters, including chalk streams, is a government priority. Restoring them to better ecological health means fixing the systemic issues in the water system.

Through the Water Environment Improvement Fund, the government is funding 45 projects this financial year (worth £2.5m of government investment) that improve chalk streams, each with the injection of private investment.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill establishes the Nature Restoration Fund which will create the opportunity for housing and infrastructure to do more to drive environmental recovery, including for chalk streams where these are covered by an Environmental Delivery Plan.