Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has been appointed to help lead a new cross-party parliamentary group dedicated to protecting England’s globally rare chalk streams amid increasing pressures, as Southern Water admit to polluting a river vital to the Isle of Wight’s drinking water.
The Trust has been named co-secretariat of the newly established All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Chalk Streams, which held its inaugural meeting at Westminster on 15th July.
The group has been created to raise awareness of the threats facing chalk streams, promote nature recovery and improve the condition of some of England’s most internationally important freshwater habitats.
Many of England’s 220 chalk streams are found in Hampshire, including the Rivers Test, Itchen and Meon, which are fed by clear groundwater filtered through chalk aquifers. The rivers provide habitats for a wide range of wildlife, including endangered species such as the white-clawed crayfish.
However, pollution, water abstraction and development are placing increasingly negative pressure on the rivers and, in turn, the daily life of millions across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
As widely reported by Island Echo, the River Test is crucial to the lives of Islander’s, being that it supplies us with the majority of our drinking water along with hundreds of thousands of people across Hampshire.
Just last week Southern Water pleaded guilty to environmental offences after a wastewater treatment works discharged excessive levels of suspended solids and iron into the River Test following a series of equipment failures.
Off the back of the hearing, the Environment Agency described Southern Water’s overall environmental performance as “unacceptable”, with inspectors carrying out more than 730 inspections of Southern Water assets over the past year. Just 68% were found to comply with their environmental permits, resulting in more than 400 improvement actions being issued by the regulator.
The Environment Agency says it completed its target of 10,000 inspections of water company assets this year as part of its increased focus on environmental compliance
Working alongside Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust will provide research, evidence, policy recommendations and parliamentary events to support MPs and Peers involved in the APPG.
The inaugural meeting was attended by 13 MPs and members of the House of Lords, with Hampshire MPs Luke Murphy, Kit Malthouse and Danny Chambers among those represented.
The appointment builds on the Trust’s work through its Save Our Chalk Streams campaign, which has helped secure recognition for chalk streams within England’s National Planning Policy Framework.
Lorna Selby, Policy and Advocacy Officer at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and Secretary of the APPG on Chalk Streams, has said:
“Over the past 2 years, the Save Our Chalk Streams campaign has grown from a small coalition of Local Wildlife Trusts into a powerful partnership of more than 10 Local Wildlife Trusts helping to shape national policy. I am proud to provide the secretariat for the new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Chalk Streams on behalf of the campaign.
“I look forward to working with parliamentarians to deliver research and evidence, policy recommendations and impactful events that raise the profile of these globally rare habitats.”
The parliamentary group will campaign for stronger legal protections for chalk streams, including a dedicated protected status. At present, only 11 of Britain’s 220 chalk streams benefit from legal protection.
The APPG will also seek reforms to water regulation, regional water planning, abstraction rules and greater support for catchment partnerships, with its work beginning ahead of the anticipated introduction of the Government’s Clean Water Bill later this year.
Closer to home, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has also been working with councils across the county to strengthen protections for rivers through Rights of the River motions and declarations. Southampton City Council, Test Valley Borough Council and East Hampshire District Council have all recognised the Rights of Rivers, while Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council has formally adopted a Declaration on Rights of Rivers.
The framework recognises rivers as having inherent rights, including the right to flow naturally, remain free from pollution, support native biodiversity and be restored where damaged.
