I am relieved to be sharing this good news, following my blog of 8 September when I explained the threat to Wiltshire’s chalk streams from Government plans to weaken vital legal protections for our rivers.

The Government’s own watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection, had written to the Secretary of State to make clear that scrapping Nutrient Neutrality law would break repeated Government promises not to weaken environmental legal protections after Brexit.

We can say a huge thank you to peers from all parties in the House of Lords who stood up for our precious rivers and said NO to the Government’s short-sighted plan. 

Lord Deben, Conservative peer and former Chair of the Climate Change Committee spoke with particular eloquence during the debate about why the plan would harm rivers and be of no benefit in boosting the number of new homes built. It is hugely encouraging that new Labour Shadow Secretary for the Environment, Steve Reed, came out decisively against the plan, and in favour of finding solutions in affected catchments that accelerate investment in the nutrient mitigation schemes – like new wetlands and agricultural runoff reduction – being pioneered by The Wildlife Trusts, including our own Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

Because the Government’s proposal was introduced at such a late stage in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill’s passage through Parliament, there appears to be no threat of this returning to the Commons for a further vote. 

Thank you to those Members of the House of Lords in Wiltshire from all parties who wrote to me expressing their support for Wiltshire’s chalk streams and their concern at the Government’s plans.