Last year WPAG responded to the Environment Agency’s ‘Challenges and Choices’ consultation to help the next determine key issues for the next River Basin Management Plan. The River Mimram is part of their Thames region

They have now published a summary of the responses and here are the key themes:

• Nature based solutions that can deliver multiple benefits, including:
o flood risk reduction through natural flood management
o enhancements for habitats and biodiversity through actions such as rewilding
• The need for the Environment Agency to address storm water overflows, particularly to:
o improve their operation and reduce their frequency of use
o penalise water companies when they are used too frequently
• The need to tackle over abstraction, particularly the:
o importance of sustainable abstraction on chalk
o need to maintain a minimum flow target
o need to value water appropriately and encourage water meter usage
• Importance of protecting chalk streams:
o from over abstraction, pollution and physical modification
o to have additional protections for these globally unique water environments
• The importance of catchment planning and partnerships:
o to deliver education and citizen campaigns
o to be sufficiently funded for the long term
• The need for the Environment Agency to enforce existing regulations more.
• The importance of the proposed Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes to
the future of agriculture, including:
o getting the new agricultural policy right is crucial to achieving a shift to more
sustainable land use and improve soil health
o supporting their implementation with greater enforcement of existing
regulations
• Chemicals and plastics in the environment, including the:
o need to have campaigns to educate the public in sustainable usage
o government to use of bans and restrictions, where appropriate
• Securing future funding for the environment, including:
o central government to use additional taxation to support environmental
improvements
o securing additional funding to support enforcement of existing regulations
(for example, farm inspections)

If you want to read the full summary (103 pages long), click here.