25 Sep 2024
Infrastructure resilience standards needed
The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has published a new report calling for the Government to set clear standards of resilience that infrastructure operators must maintain in the face of sudden shocks. The NIC says that climate change and related weather extremes, alongside a heightened reliance on digital technologies, mean that the UK faces increased risks […]
25 Sep 2024
UK to appoint first special envoy for nature
In his first major foreign policy speech, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has made clear that action on climate is action on our security, our prosperity and our future. At the Kew Lecture, Lammy talked about “resetting Britain’s approach to climate and nature”, setting out three priorities Building a Global Clean Power Alliance Unlocking more climate […]
25 Sep 2024
Government admits progress lacking on water environment
The government has accepted that not enough progress has been made in improving the water environment in England. The admission came in response to the Office for Environmental Protection’s (OEP) report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive regulations and River Basin Management Planning. Defra’s response recognises that “The government agrees that there has […]
25 Sep 2024
New water-related planning guidance
The Planning Inspectorate has published guidance on how Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) will need to take the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) into account. It said when reporting and on an NSIP application, the examining authority will need to consider the potential effects of any proposed development on: The environmental objectives and […]
25 Sep 2024
Scandal of flooding protection system
George Monbiot, writing in The Guardian, says more floods are coming to Britain, and that the network of public bodies supposed to safeguard us are bastions of self-interest. Labour’s first stage of government resembles a vast forensic excavation. As it works through the Conservatives’ midden of horrors, it discovers an ever greater legacy of underinvestment, […]
25 Sep 2024
The biggest causes of river pollution
Helen Wakeham, Director of Water, writes how public concern around pollution in England’s waterways has increased markedly in recent years, with the actions of water companies, and particularly pollution from storm overflow discharges receiving widespread attention. She says that World Rivers Day presents a good opportunity to not only take a look at the state […]
25 Sep 2024
Water industry investment under threat
Reported in City AM Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund has reportedly told the government that it will not invest in regulated UK water, electricity and gas utilities due to unpredictable rules on infrastructure, in a blow for Labour’s economic strategy. GIC, the world’s seventh-largest sovereign wealth fund with more than $800bn (£600bn) in assets, declared its […]
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