South West and Wessex Water resource management plans fail to deliver proper environmental assessment of River Avon

WildFish has written to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Steve Reed, to head-off approval of Water Resource Management Plans (WRMPs)1 from South West Water and Wessex Water because they pose a threat to the River Avon – a chalk stream and Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

The move comes after WildFish uncovered evidence that Natural England has been advising the Environment Agency that the WRMPs and the environmental assessments that they contain (which are supposed to investigate impacts on sensitive rivers like the Avon) are not up to scratch. But the Environment Agency seems to be ignoring the advice. 

For instance, Natural England’s public response to Wessex Water’s WRMP had been that there were “substantial shortcomings” and that the plan would, “have an adverse effect on the integrity of the River Avon SAC” and it would “damage or destroy the interest features for which the River Avon System, River Till, Salisbury Plain and Porton Meadows Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) have been notified.”  

The Secretary of State has the draft plans for approval and WildFish wants to know whether Natural England’s view has changed. In writing, WildFish asked for up-to-date advice from Natural England to the Environment Agency for both Wessex Water and South West Water. It appears that until recently, the Environment Agency has been acting as a filter for Natural England’s objections to the Secretary of State and they were in support of the plans, despite Natural England’s view that “the HRA for the Wessex Water plan, in terms of existing water resource management agree arrangements, has not been adequately addressed and so we are unable to recommend that the plan is suitable for publication.”  

Central to the objection was the failure of Wessex Water to assess the impact of current abstraction levels on the Avon which is “currently in unfavourable condition and the river Avon SAC is not meeting its conservation objectives and requires restoration. One of the key factors behind this condition is that the river does not meet the agreed targets for flow.” 

Natural England continued, “We therefore advise that other mitigation measures are required alongside the process of reducing abstraction pressure to protect the integrity of the SAC.”

WildFish also wrote to Natural England to ask for details on South West Waters WRMP. WildFish discovered that, yet again, Natural England continues to object to the real absence of assessment of impacts on the river Avon, because Wessex Water has not considered the impact of current abstractions on the river Avon and Camel – both SAC. 

WildFish have identified that there were no proper assessments of South West Waters proposals to take water from Ibsley Lake, Wimborne and Stanbridge, even though these water sources are connected to the Avon through groundwater links. 

WildFish argue that both South West and Wessex Waters plans should not be approved until there is a proper assessment for impacts of the proposed changes to abstraction. 

Nick Measham said, “it’s clear that the Environment Agency and Natural England are not singing from the same hymn sheet. The Environment Agency appears to be prepared to compromise in its advice to the secretary of state, whereas Natural England has stuck to its guns and has insisted that the water companies need to look at the impact of their water regime and to put it all in a proper written assessment”. 

It’s shocking to see that the Environment Agency seems to be at home in  supporting the water companies rather than doing its job as an environmental regulator. The water companies should be made to rewrite their plans now before they are signed off with potential damaging consequences to the Avon”, he added.