Peers seek Environment Bill target on sewage pollution

Peers last week lobbied for the Government to make ending sewage pollution in rivers an Environment Bill priority.

The Duke of Wellington tabled Amendment 4 as the Bill was debated at Committee stage in the Lords, which sought to require the environment secretary to include the cleansing of rivers as a priority in Chapter 1, which is concerned with improving the natural environment and setting green targets. “My proposal is that the Government set a target for improving the natural environment of our rivers,” he explained.

He went on: “I fear that the apparent unwillingness of the Government to make this a priority is the great cost involved in converting our drainage and sewerage infrastructure. In other parts of the Bill there will be an opportunity to debate how this could or should be paid for.”

He won support from a number of peers including Baroness McIntosh of Pickering who called for an end to the automatic right to connect and for water companies to become statutory consultees in the planning process; and Baroness Altmann who argued on behalf of wild swimmers that discharges should be eliminated rather than just reported on.

For the Government, Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park responded to the various points raised and argued centrally that the planned legally binding long term water target would cover water quality as one of a number of objectives. He said: “The Government are currently considering water target objectives in relation to reducing pollution from agriculture, wastewater and abandoned metal mines, as well as in relation to reducing water demand. This approach encompasses water quality, but also allows the inclusion of broader objectives, such as reducing the impact of water demand on the water environment.”

Elsewhere Lord Goldsmith committed to meet with interested Lords for further discussion, and pointed out that “my colleague in the other place, Rebecca Pow, said only last week that if water companies do not step up then we will use the drainage and wastewater management plans to force them to”.

The Duke of Wellington withdrew Amendment 4.