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Ministers propose scrapping pollution rules to build more homes

Said it before and I’ll say it again…….. green issues are green crap to this government, which get in the way of economic growth and house building programs 👎🏻

Also this is an interesting statement:

“Alongside the move the government is announcing new environmental measures including doubling investment to £280m for the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme run by Natural England.
The new environmental measures will mostly target farming and water companies to restore protected waterways. An extra £166m in grants will be made available to farmers for improved slurry storage to reducing nutrient run off into rivers and wetland”

I wonder if the Labour Welsh Assembly and CCW, will offer similar funding/initiatives in Wales, to reduce nutrient run off into the likes of River Wye from poultry farming? The answer is probably no and they’ll keep relying on data from 2009 and 2015, which claims there isn’t even a problem!
 
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I've said it before on this forum that pollution issues come way down the agenda of ALL political parties. Yes, even the Green Party!
Economic growth, reducing inflation, reducing NHS waiting times, stopping illegal immigration, energy supply, house building, road building etc etc. are considered more important.
Stopping the poisoning of our waterways isn't considered important. How do I know this? I wrote to all the major political parties and addressed my letters
to the leaders of each party and copied their nominated spokesperson on the environment, asking for their policy on this matter.
The only reply I got was a postcard from the Greens saying thanks for your letter.
It's up to anglers and others who use our waterways to kick up a fuss but it will be a hard slog.
 
Paul Bullinger said:
I've said it before on this forum that pollution issues come way down the agenda of ALL political parties. Yes, even the Green Party!
Economic growth, reducing inflation, reducing NHS waiting times, stopping illegal immigration, energy supply, house building, road building etc etc. are considered more important.
Stopping the poisoning of our waterways isn't considered important. How do I know this? I wrote to all the major political parties and addressed my letters
to the leaders of each party and copied their nominated spokesperson on the environment, asking for their policy on this matter.
The only reply I got was a postcard from the Greens saying thanks for your letter.
It's up to anglers and others who use our waterways to kick up a fuss but it will be a hard slog.
Click to expand...

If just 10% of anglers, independently emailed their MP on such matters, that’s around 100K responses, which gets attention. Problem is 99% of anglers can’t be arsed to do such things………

I‘ve emailed my MP twice in the last 12 months and I do get a reply.
 
Neil Blood said:
If just 10% of anglers, independently emailed their MP on such matters, that’s around 100K responses, which gets attention. Problem is 99% of anglers can’t be arsed to do such things………

I‘ve emailed my MP twice in the last 12 months and I do get a reply.
Click to expand...
Did you email them about pollution Neil or was it a "local" issue? I think MP's (or their assistants) are quite good at responding to things like school crossings (!) etc but don't want to comment on National Issues. That's why I wrote to the Party Leaders.
Agree with your point about the potential strength of the angling community 👍
 
Paul,

With respect you seem to be poo pooing my idea and this is the problem generally, as anglers can’t either be bothered or think what’s the point.

My last email to my MP was as follows:

Hi,

Earlier today I watched Prime Ministers Questions, where Ed Davey asked a question relating to private water company boss bonuses and sewage pollution discharges.

As a life long angler and conservationist, this is a subject very close to my heart. I was therefore dismayed to see that whilst asking the question, Ed Davey was heckled by Tory MP’s. What made me even more dismayed, was that Rishi Sunak then proceeded to totally ignore the question and instead reply about Lib Dem policy on tuition fees!

I would like to point out that there are approximately 1 million anglers in the UK and as someone who is actively involved in the UK’s largest angling club, which happens to be based in your constituency, I can assure you that feelings are running very high, regarding the health of UK rivers and weak government action. You may also be aware that the River Dane runs through a large part of your constituency. During the last 25 years, I’ve watched this river go from being one, which was thriving with fish, to one which I now consider to be a failing ecosystem!

Please note that based on the above points, you can no longer rely on my vote at the next general election and I know that many other anglers are of the same opinion.

Regards,

Neil

I received an official reply on a House of Commons letter head, telling me how much the government was investing in this area. I posted a copy on here, on another thread.

I will be writing to my MP again, telling her that I will never vote Tory again, based on what I see as the biggest political scandal of my lifetime, which is the privatisation of the water companies with zero debt in the Thatcher era. Roll forward to today and we have a combined £50 billion in debt against the water companies with £60 billion paid in share dividend! I can’t wait to hear how my local Tory MP puts a positive spin on this one!

Also consider that when the river and coastal sewage issues became headline news earlier this year, I got the impression that it wasn’t anglers leading the way and instead, it was more a case of a few local swimming and bathing women’s groups, in some posh Tory coastal towns!
 
Pretty bad news that really! Property developers will be rubbing there hands with glee at the prospect of earning even more from shocklingly poor quality new build homes!
 
Back in May……

BEC80BC5-B562-4B4E-A64A-79586C81ACE1.jpeg


Fast forward to today, government gives green light to property developers to sidestep environmental controls. Not difficult to work out what is going on here.
 
I am often writing to my MP, about the state of my local rivers and side streams, also stating the EA isn’t fit for the purpose of looking after our waterways. I also send pics of pollution etc. I always get a reply also he will send me copy of letters he sends to the EA and their reply, which is usually waffle from the EA. I don’t give up, I have also written to Mr Gove MP about the latest fiasco. Sadly all parties just waffle on about clean waterways and imposing bigger fines on the polluting landowners and building companies.
 
Neil Blood said:
Paul,

With respect you seem to be poo pooing my idea and this is the problem generally, as anglers can’t either be bothered or think what’s the point.

My last email to my MP was as follows:

Hi,

Earlier today I watched Prime Ministers Questions, where Ed Davey asked a question relating to private water company boss bonuses and sewage pollution discharges.

As a life long angler and conservationist, this is a subject very close to my heart. I was therefore dismayed to see that whilst asking the question, Ed Davey was heckled by Tory MP’s. What made me even more dismayed, was that Rishi Sunak then proceeded to totally ignore the question and instead reply about Lib Dem policy on tuition fees!

I would like to point out that there are approximately 1 million anglers in the UK and as someone who is actively involved in the UK’s largest angling club, which happens to be based in your constituency, I can assure you that feelings are running very high, regarding the health of UK rivers and weak government action. You may also be aware that the River Dane runs through a large part of your constituency. During the last 25 years, I’ve watched this river go from being one, which was thriving with fish, to one which I now consider to be a failing ecosystem!

Please note that based on the above points, you can no longer rely on my vote at the next general election and I know that many other anglers are of the same opinion.

Regards,

Neil

I received an official reply on a House of Commons letter head, telling me how much the government was investing in this area. I posted a copy on here, on another thread.

I will be writing to my MP again, telling her that I will never vote Tory again, based on what I see as the biggest political scandal of my lifetime, which is the privatisation of the water companies with zero debt in the Thatcher era. Roll forward to today and we have a combined £50 billion in debt against the water companies with £60 billion paid in share dividend! I can’t wait to hear how my local Tory MP puts a positive spin on this one!

Also consider that when the river and coastal sewage issues became headline news earlier this year, I got the impression that it wasn’t anglers leading the way and instead, it was more a case of a few local swimming and bathing women’s groups, in some posh Tory coastal towns!
Click to expand...
Hi Neil,
No, I wasn't "poo pooing" your comments (although those are a poor choice of words given the subject!). What I was saying, is that politicians may well respond to correspondence but not to mine! When they DO respond its more likely to be platitudes because of the other "pressing" issues listed in my previous post.
I am certainly an advocate of Joe Public kicking up a fuss about these matters, but until the mindset of politicians changes, it's an uphill battle.
As I have said before, the only way to address these bigger issues is to have cross party agreement on long term strategies. Due to our Democratic Constitution, political parties tend to go for "short term fixes".
I care greatly about water pollution so dispute your claim that "anglers can't be bothered". Personally, I report any local incidents to the EA, I regularly pick up litter from my local river (whoever leaves it!) and at my local Angling Club (of which I am Sec & Treasurer) we have developed a "safe area" for wildlife away from the ravages of the local otter population.
I am pleased you get responses from your local MP but as you say, you won't be voting for them!
 
Another example of a so called 'Brexit Dividend'. Would have been illegal for the Govt to have done this under EU law. What a sad mess this country is in.

Good coverage here:

Nutrient negativity: the Government is planning to weaken legal protection for rivers

The Government is proposing amendments to the Habitats Regulations that would disapply requirements for “nutrient neutrality” in sensitive river catchments.
www.wcl.org.uk www.wcl.org.uk
 
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Joe Winstanley said:
Another example of a so called 'Brexit Dividend'. Would have been illegal for the Govt to have done this under EU law. What a sad mess this country is in.

Good coverage here:

Nutrient negativity: the Government is planning to weaken legal protection for rivers

The Government is proposing amendments to the Habitats Regulations that would disapply requirements for “nutrient neutrality” in sensitive river catchments.
www.wcl.org.uk www.wcl.org.uk
Click to expand...
On account of leaving the EU?
Governments will always look at things with a balance that skews towards making money and here it's for the house builders. I hear it a lot that the EU protected the environment but that would have to be debated.
 
Damian Kimmins said:
On account of leaving the EU?
Governments will always look at things with a balance that skews towards making money and here it's for the house builders. I hear it a lot that the EU protected the environment but that would have to be debated.
Click to expand...
This is a complete contravention of the Habitat Regulations which are enrishrined in EU law. Quite simply, the Govt would both not have been able to implement this pre-Brexit. That's beyond any doubt.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
This is a complete contravention of the Habitat Regulations which are enrishrined in EU law. Quite simply, the Govt would both not have been able to implement this pre-Brexit. That's beyond any doubt.
Click to expand...
The Water Framework Directive was the main EU law for protecting water quality and has to be said did little for our water quality.
Don't get me wrong, the government's position on this is pretty shocking as quite practically the quality of current new build homes is shocking without encouraging even more!
 
Damian Kimmins said:
The Water Framework Directive was the main EU law for protecting water quality and has to be said did little for our water quality.
Don't get me wrong, the government's position on this is pretty shocking as quite practically the quality of current new build homes is shocking without encouraging even more!
Click to expand...
WFD - it did and it didn't. Our Govt and agencies hated it because it shone a light on the state of our waterways and therefore the incompetence of those tasked with protecting them. No surprise that the head of the EA wants to do change the way waterways are assessed in future so they can ignore certain areas of failure.
 
Useful short video with Mark Lloyd of the Rivers Trusts explaining how flawed the Govt's thinking is behind scrapping nutrient neutrality rules.

Worth reiterating that this now means that Local Planning Authorities are now required by law not to take into account the impact of further development on water quality, in any circumstance. Just think about that for a minute..

 
DEFRA have put out a consultation on hedgerow management to all farmers/landowners, with questions basically ranging from weakening current protections to maintaining them!

Why would you want to weaken them, given our catastrophic declines in farmland wildlife over recent decades. Its basically the government yet again, trying to erode EU environmental protection laws!

This government is an absolute shower of %$£&! where the environment is concerned!
 
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