Environment secretary trails Plan for Water and unlimited pollution penalties...

Environment secretary, Therese Coffey, has trailed a soon-to-be-published new Plan for Water, which will “map out the government’s action plan for tackling pollution, boosting water supplies, driving up performance and toughening up enforcement against companies who fail to deliver improvements”.

Coffey said the plan will feature the creation of a Water Restoration Fund – a new destination for fines and penalties paid by water companies who pollute, which will pay for on-the-ground improvements to water quality and support local groups and community-led schemes which help to protect waterways.

She also revealed that Defra’s preferred option in a forthcoming consultation on penalty levels was for lifting the upper cap on civil penalties on water companies, allowing unlimited fines.

Labour is pushing its own plan for water, and sewage cleanup looks set to become an issue in the May elections.