Tory Plan To Eliminate Pollution Laws Collapses; Not One English River Meets Safety Standards

Ministers’ plans to weaken river pollution rules are in tatters after they suffered two defeats in the House of Lords. Labour had made clear that it would oppose the “reckless” plans by the Conservatives to rip up EU-derived laws on nutrient neutrality, which force developers to mitigate pollution from new developments.

Because the attempt to scrap the rules by the Tories was introduced at a late stage in the passage of the levelling up and regeneration bill, it will not return to the Commons, leaving the government with its policy in disarray. Craig Bennett, of the Wildlife Trusts, welcomed Labour’s decision to oppose the attempts to scrap the nutrient neutrality rules, which meant a government defeat was inevitable. “The government was proposing the most significant weakening of environmental legislation in 30 years, and it was crucial that Labour stepped up not just to stop it, but also to expose the utterly false choice between housing and pollution that Rishi Sunak was offering,” he said. “The millions of people that are fed up of the pollution in our rivers will be very grateful.”

Michael Gove, the housing secretary, and Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, had pushed for the end of what they termed “defective” EU laws, which require developers to offset any extra nutrient pollution they cause in sensitive areas under the habitats directive. These areas include the Lake District and the Norfolk Broads.

This came despite Tory promises not to weaken environmental standards after Brexit and amid fury over the state of English rivers, not one of which passes tests for safe levels of chemical or biological pollution. The Guardian revealed this week that the government ignored its own nature watchdog’s advice on scrapping the pollution rules.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/13/tory-plans-rip-up-river-pollution-rules-in-tatters-after-two-defeats-in-lords