Green groups decry Defra decision to duck Water Restoration Fund commitment

Nature campaigners have decried the Government’s decision not to enshrine the Water Restoration Fund in the Water (Special Measures) Bill.

Green coalition Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) had written to environment secretary Steve Reed to call for this, and produced written evidence for the Public Bill Committee hammering home the need.

The Fund was announced by the previous Conservative Government in 2022 to ring fence all water company pollution fines to pay for remedial work on waterways and their catchments. However, it has not been fully implemented. 20% of water company fines for 2022-23 failed to make it into the Fund, and Defra declined to commit to the £140m of 2024 fines entering the fund in full.

Commenting on the Government’s decision not to formalise the Fund in the Bill, Mark Lloyd, chief executive of The Rivers Trust, said: “This misses a huge opportunity to drive important work to improve the state of our rivers. The Office for Environmental Protection has challenged the Government on its weak implementation and delivery of legislation; the Government’s failure yesterday to formalise the WRF is a prime example of why they are off target.

“In her comments, minister Hardy repeatedly referenced the lack of impact of the existing WRF. However, she failed to note that the main reason for this is that not one penny of the existing £11m fund has been paid out to delivery groups including Rivers Trusts by her implementing body, the Rural Payments Agency.

“We will never achieve the outcomes we want to see for our rivers while implementation and delivery is blocked in this way. Our communities, rivers, lakes and seas deserve better than this. Money from polluters must be used to rectify the harm they have caused if we want to have any hope of improving our water environment.”