Asked by: Siobhan Baillie (Conservative - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
What steps he is taking to help ensure that coastal wetland habitat creation and other nature-based solutions form part of the Government's plans to reach net zero.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As stated in the Net Zero Strategy, nature-based solutions, including protecting, restoring and sustainably managing coastal wetlands, are key to tackling climate change and averting its impacts. We do not currently have the required data to include coastal wetlands habitats in the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory, but we are working to address these evidence gaps. We are also championing nature-based solutions internationally, and supporting delivery through our Official Development Assistance, including International Climate Finance.
Asked by: Jesse Norman (Conservative - Hereford and South Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of pollution in the River Wye for (a) local housing, (b) the local environment and (c) levelling up.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is committed to delivering the homes this country needs and is striving to level up all parts of the country. The Government's Get Building Fund, via the Marches LEP, has invested £1 million in the River Wye catchment, to aid the construction of Integrated Wetlands to mitigate the sources of nutrient pollution. This will enable the delivery of 1,385 nutrient neutral dwellings in the catchment.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the speed of investment in sewage water treatment by Wessex Water to reduce phosphorous discharge.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To address water company derived phosphates, the Environment Agency sets limits based on achieving statutory objectives. Improvements to treatment works or through changes to land use are planned on a 5 year cycle of asset improvements with the water companies. Wessex Water is expecting to invest up to £57m across Somerset to achieve phosphate removal targets by 2024.
In addition to regulatory requirements, the EA is working with Wessex Water to trial nature-based solutions such as wetlands and woodlands as part of the government's green recovery initiative. This involves rewarding landowners and farmers for land use changes that will significantly reduce phosphate releases.
There is more to be done to reduce phosphorous discharge from sewage water treatment. The Strategic Policy Statement for Ofwat, which is currently out for consultation, outlines the government's ambition for Ofwat to drive water companies to be more ambitious in their environmental planning and delivery to contribute towards our environmental goals and enhance the quality of the water environment.
We have also introduced the requirement for at least one legally binding water target in the Environment Bill. This target will complement existing regulations and legislation, moving us closer to achieving our goal of clean and plentiful water set out in Defra's 25 Year Environment Plan.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will provide a definition of sustainable abstraction in respect of removing water from chalk steam (a) aquifers and (b) rivers; and what criterion his Department takes into account in protecting such water environments from environmental damage.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Restoring England’s internationally important chalk streams is a Government priority.
The Environment Agency (EA) regulates abstraction from chalk streams and aquifers in the same way as from any other source. It set out its approach in a recent policy paper, Managing Water Abstraction.
An abstraction licence is unsustainable if:
For rivers, the EA uses the Environmental Flow Indicator as the default flow required to support Good Ecological Status in water bodies and to prevent deterioration. For existing abstraction, local ecological evidence is used to show whether an abstraction is causing environmental damage.
For groundwater, the EA uses 4 tests to assess groundwater bodies:
The EA is developing long term plans to reduce our reliance on chalk streams. The publication of the CaBA Chalk Stream Restoration Strategy later this year will set out recommendations on how to restore and protect England’s chalk streams. The EA is committed to working with all chalk stream stakeholders to better understand what more it can do in both the short and long term to make a difference on the ground.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including data about blue carbon ecosystems in the (a) greenhouse gas inventory and (b) Nationally Determined Contribution calculations.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK greenhouse gas (GHG) Inventory will be used to report progress against the UK’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). UK NDC performance will be assessed in 2032 based on the UK 1990-2030 GHG Inventory submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The UK does not currently have the required data to report on anthropogenic activities impacting saltmarsh and seagrass (blue carbon habitats), as set out in the 2013 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Wetlands Supplement, and they are therefore not currently included in the UK GHG Inventory. We continue to build the evidence base on blue carbon habitats to help inform future, robust GHG reporting and accounting.
The Government recognises the role that blue carbon habitats, such as saltmarsh and seagrass, can play to prevent biodiversity loss and support adaptation and resilience to climate change, alongside carbon sequestration benefits. The importance of marine habitats was acknowledged in the UK NDC’s information to facilitate clarity, transparency and understanding, as well as in the UK’s Adaptation Communication.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to take steps to include actions that benefit the restoration and protection of blue carbon habitats in his Departments (a) Environmental Land Management Scheme and (b) other schemes.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK recognises the important role that blue carbon habitats – such as saltmarsh and seagrass - can play to prevent biodiversity loss and support adaptation and resilience to climate change, alongside carbon sequestration benefits. The protection and restoration of these habitats therefore provides a nature-based solution.
The UK is a global leader in ocean protection with 38% of UK waters in Marine Protected Areas, covering the majority of saltmarsh and seagrass habitats. Our focus is now on ensuring these are effectively protected.
The Government recently published its response to the Benyon Review into Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs), accepting the central recommendation that we should identify a number of locations to pilot this approach. HPMAs will be identified on the basis of their ecological value, including areas with potential to recover, and blue carbon habitats. Social and economic principles will then be used to help us understand and minimise the impacts on sea users.
In addition, a number of coastal and estuarine habit restoration initiatives are underway. The Environment Agency’s Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative is working to restore our estuarine and coastal habitats, including blue carbon habitats, to benefit people and nature. Natural England is also leading the EU-funded LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES (Reducing and Mitigating Erosion and Disturbance Impacts affecting the Seabed) project, which aims to restore seagrass and maerl habitat in five Special Areas of Conservation.
We are also introducing three schemes that reward the delivery of environmental benefits, including for coastal habitat: the Sustainable Farming Incentive, the Local Nature Recovery scheme and the Landscape Recovery scheme. We are working with stakeholders and end users to determine the specific land management actions that will be paid for under our new schemes. The Agricultural Transition Plan set out examples of the types of actions that we envisage paying for under the schemes, including creating, managing, and restoring coastal habitats such as wetlands and salt marsh.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the protection of endangered species which are native to Yorkshire.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to taking action to recover our threatened native species. A number of our most threatened species, many of which can be found in Yorkshire, are protected by law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. Towards our goal to address the overall decline of species in England, we will be amending the Environment Bill to require an additional legally binding target for species for 2030, aiming to halt the decline of nature. We will publish a Green Paper later in 2021, setting out how our protections framework might deliver this better and our wider domestic ambitions.
Alongside our work at the national scale for the recovery of species and their habitats, such as through new schemes for environmental land management and the Nature Recovery Network, we have also taken positive steps for protecting and investing in species in Yorkshire. In May this year, the Dearne Valley Wetlands was recognised by its notification as a new Site of Special Scientific Interest, for its nationally important native birds. Additionally, as part of the £80m Green Recovery Challenge Fund the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust was awarded funding for the restoration of two nationally important species in the Humber Estuary: native oysters and dwarf seagrass. The Froglife Trust also received funding for a project that aims to stop the decline of the UK's common toads in Yorkshire and replenish populations.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the housebuilding moratorium in Herefordshire on levels of phosphate discharge into the River Wye.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I have been informed by Natural England that the section of the River Wye in Gloucestershire is not in unfavourable condition and therefore the implications of the ruling in the Dutch Nitrogen case do not currently apply in this area. However, we are working across Government to address the issues arising out of the ruling and the subsequent requirement for development to achieve 'nutrient neutrality.'
I co-chair a Task-force with Minister Pincher bringing together Defra, MHCLG, Natural England and Environment Agency officials to develop a clear action plan to tackle the issue. The aim of this group is to both ensure housebuilding can proceed near our most important protected areas whilst not negatively contributing to their condition, and develop long term solutions to the underlying issue of the condition of protected sites such as the River Wye/Lugg.
In Herefordshire, Herefordshire Council has developed its wetlands scheme and is commissioning the drafting of an 'Interim Delivery Plan' which includes a Phosphate Calculator, with advice from Natural England. This will assist in the development of mitigation options in catchment. Similar schemes are underway at other currently affected sites and are moving forward, such as agreed mitigation being in place for the River Avon SAC.
Furthermore, Natural England's guidance to local authorities is being updated and they are working closely in catchments such as that of the River Wye and Lugg to share details of this ongoing work. We will continue to support developers and local authorities to meet the requirement for nutrient neutrality. We are also working to identify strategic actions to improve the overall condition of the sites and bring them back into a favourable condition.
In Herefordshire, this will include working with Welsh Government and their agencies. I have written to the Welsh Government Minister for the Environment to signal the need to work closely on this issue. Natural England and the Environment Agency, together with Natural Resources Wales and Herefordshire Council, will continue to work together to identify the measures to restore the site to favourable condition, and on creating capacity for development.
The requirement for nutrient neutrality will not affect current levels of Phosphate discharge to the river but it will avoid any further deterioration caused by additional nutrient pollution from waste water at these sites. The Nutrient Neutral approach, once mitigation has been agreed at particular sites, will allow for housebuilding to resume without causing this additional deterioration. There is a national programme under the Water Framework Directive for monitoring the status of rivers and we will continue to assess whether the site is moving toward good ecological status.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to introduce practical measures for offsetting phosphates being discharged from homes.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The main sources of phosphates in the water environment are from agricultural land, and discharges from wastewater treatment works. The approach being taken by Natural England in response to housing applications in water sensitive European site catchments (Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites), where nutrients have been identified as a specific reason for sites failing condition, is to require development to demonstrate nutrient neutrality.
The nutrient-neutral approach ensures that development does not lead to an increase in nutrients entering the European site, therefore enabling development to meet the tests of the Habitats Regulations. The approach enables development to mitigate for their nutrient impacts, by reducing existing nutrient inputs from other sources, such as through securing land use change from intensive agriculture. Changing land use from intensive agriculture to woodland, restored grassland, wetlands etc. not only reduces nutrients entering watercourses but also has significant biodiversity, carbon, and natural flood management benefits. Public access is also encouraged, potentially providing significant new public access to the countryside with all the health and wellbeing benefits associated.
Another mechanism for achieving nutrient neutrality is to create engineered wetlands at the outfall of a wastewater treatment works. This approach works by running the treated wastewater through a wetland prior to it discharging into a watercourse, removing additional nutrients in the process.
Over the past few years, several innovative and more strategic schemes have been developed to deliver more effective site protections. We have proposed an amendment to the Environment Bill to provide for Protected Site Strategies. This will provide legal underpinning for such strategic approaches and support their development. They will be particularly useful where evidence shows that the condition of protected sites is affected by a range of problems.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the landscape value, and (2) the level of landscape protection, of the Somerset Levels.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Natural England published a detailed Natural Character Area profile of the Somerset Levels in June 2013. This study provides a description of the natural and cultural features that shape the landscape, how the landscape has changed over time, the current key drivers of landscape change and a broad analysis of the area’s characteristics and ecosystem services.
The Somerset Levels have no formal landscape protection. Large areas of the Somerset Levels are, however, afforded protection because of their nature conservation value through designation as: a National Nature Reserve; a Special Protection Area (under the Wild Birds Directive); and a Ramsar site (under the Ramsar Convention on wetlands of international importance). These designations are underpinned by several Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Further information is available online via Natural England’s Designated Sites Viewer and the MAGIC website: