After urging all MPs to do their job as elected representatives in Parliament, Mark Lloyd says he is disappointed in the Government’s decision not to formalise the Water Restoration Fund in their Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Mark, who is currently Chief Executive of The Rivers Trust, had asked MPs to support amendments to enshrine the fund in law to ensure that money sourced through water company fines could only be used for nature recovery schemes, rather than allowing the money to be swallowed up by the Treasury.
“Whilst we recognise the good aspects of the Water (Special Measures) Bill that strengthen our ability to hold water companies to account, we are very disappointed that the Government has declined to enshrine the Water Restoration Fund (WRF) in this legislation, despite widespread support from opposition parties, back benchers, communities and environmental groups. 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 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 £11 million 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.”
Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive, The Rivers Trust
