England’s rivers, lakes, and seas are not receiving enough attention from the government, according to a statutory body called the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). The environmental watchdog has criticized the lack of detail, funding, and overall commitment from the government’s plan to improve water health, suggesting they will miss their targets by a significant margin.
The OEP’s report states that government plans to clean up England’s waterways are “poor,” and it lacks the necessary detail, funding, and commitment to provide the results they need. The watchdog chair, Dame Glenys Stacey, warned that the government is no closer to achieving its ambitions for the country’s water health and will most likely “miss by a large margin” unless it commits more adequately to improving them.
Currently, just 16% of the nation’s waterways have good ecological status. Within six years, the government hopes to increase that to 77%, but the OEP believes it’s more likely to reach only 21% by 2027.
Most environmental campaign groups agreed that the report merely confirms what the authorities already knew. They see it as proof that current policy and legislation is not enough, and a change of course is necessary to save England’s rivers.
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