Ministers to use water company fines on environment changes and not fund Treasury
Cash collected from fining water companies is set to be re-pumped back into the environment, rather than to fund ministers, according to new Government plans.
Funds will be ringfenced to invest back into water quality improvement initiatives, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Defra said these could include the creation of wetlands, re-vegetating river banks and reconnecting meanders to the main channel of rivers.
At present, money from fines is returned to the Treasury.
There has been growing public outrage in recent months at the volume of raw or partially treated sewage pumped into the UK’s rivers and coastal waters.
Water firms are being criticised for not investing money back into the UK’s outdated water infrastructure, with mounting pressure on ministers to intervene.
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The Government came under fire in October after Environment Secretary Therese Coffey admitted the deadline to publish landmark legally binding targets to clean up Britain’s waters would be missed.
Ms Coffey said she was ‘disappointed’ by the delay in producing the targets – which are obligations under the post-Brexit Environment Act – but was ‘working at pace on building on the work of my predecessors’.
Defra said further details of its plans to re-allocate funds from fines imposed on water companies will follow next year.
Water minister Rebecca Pow said: ‘Water company fines reached a record level last year, and moving forward these plans will significantly increase funding that will be used to recover, protect and enhance our natural environment.’
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: ‘These fines hold rule-breaking companies to account and mean record investment in our waterways.
‘It comes on top of our requirement for water companies to invest in the natural environment – raising the largest ever environmental infrastructure investment of £56 billion over 25 years.’
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