Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Conclusion 57
Fourth Report - Water quality in rivers
Published 13 Jan 2022
Paragraph 287
Environmental Audit Committee Water Quality in Rivers All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
National Highways mitigated risks of pollution from 23 drainage points in 2020/21. At this rate it will take over 55 years to address the 1,326 outfalls and soakaways it has identified as high risk, not to mention the thousands of other potentially polluting drains on the strategic road network. This is unacceptably slow progress. We are sceptical that the company will be able to achieve its target of no net loss of biodiversity without working at a much faster rate to neutralise the direct risks to water quality from those outfalls it manages.
From: Environmental Audit Committee, Fourth Report - Water quality in rivers (HC 74), paragraph 287, 13 January 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 16 May 2022 (deadline 13 March 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the report and says it agrees there is "more to do", accepting many recommendations, declining some, and deferring others to consultations, reviews and future plans.
- On sewage monitoring, it "does not accept" the recommendation to install volume monitors at all overflow points, saying volume measurement is "limited by technical feasibility and cost" and "requires further consideration".
- It "does not agree" that planning authorities should adopt a broad policy against farming infrastructure, and "does not agree" that permitting is "normally an appropriate risk management response" for highway drains.
- On highways outfalls, National Highways "agrees to set out its plans" by the end of the 2022/23 financial year for how high-risk locations could be mitigated by 2030, but says it is "not possible to make a commitment" on funding at this time.
- On sentencing for water pollution offences, the independent Sentencing Council "will consider the recommendation in due course", and any changes to guidelines would be "subject to public consultation".