06.10.2015
Dear Ms Bradley
Thank
you for sending on to me the letter to you from the Environment
Agency enclosed with your letter dated 17.09.15. I found the letter
from the Environment Agency to be rather illuminating, and I believe
it supports what I said in my original letter to you on this subject
(August 2015).
For
instance on the third paragraph the letter says that the River
Churnet, where it passes through Endon, and Endon brook, itself is
classified as “moderate” under the Water Framework Directive, and
has been so for the last 6 years. Moderate is the middle category of
a five category Water Quality scale which ranges from high, through
good, moderate, poor and ends with bad. Having the Churnet and its
tributaries classed as moderate is hardly a ringing endorsement of
our local natural water courses is it? The letter then goes on to say
“this means that these water bodies are not deteriorating”. I
wonder does it though? What was the quality prior to 2009? I cannot
find that on the internet and I would be interested to know, perhaps
you can find out for me? In any case, according to the EA website,
water quality is reviewed on a six-yearly basis – hence no change
in six years could mean that the there has been no review for six
years, not no change in water quality. The paragraph continues
stating that, as those streams and the river have not deteriorated
(and, as I say, that is debatable), they are not classified as “high
priority water bodies”. This is very surprising since the Joint
Nature Conservation Committee website says, “The
purpose of the Directive is to …...ensure that all aquatic
ecosystems and, with regard to their water needs, terrestrial
ecosystems and wetlands meet 'good status' by 2015”.
Clearly the streams and river in your constituency are going to fail
to meet the requirements of the directive.
In
spite of this the only examples of any work being done to improve the
water quality of the Churnet catchment are being done by local
charities; the Churnet
Valley Living Landscape Partnership headwater streams projects and
the Wild Trout Trust's reprofiling work on Horton Brook. On this I
have made a few enquires. As a result I have been told, that the work
on Horton Brook was actually done as part of a deal arranged by the
EA as a form of compensation paid by a farmer who had caused a
serious pollution incident. I will be pleased if you will discover if
this is the case.
The
letter also acknowledges that some local farmers are responsible for
polluting the streams and river with excess phosphate and herbicides
and are not very forthcoming in putting it rights as, according to
the letter, “not all landowners are willing to carry out this work
themselves”. In any case it seems they need not feel too pressured
to clean up their act as in a recent speech given by Liz Truss
(https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/environment-secretary-speech-at-the-oxford-farming-conference)
she said that, “Food
and farming is one of the areas of our national life that is most
burdened with red tape – much of it unnecessary, as I’m sure many
in this room are aware. I want farmers farming not form filling.
Since
2010 we have:
- Cut 10,000 unnecessary dairy inspections a year.
- 14 out of 31 inspection regimes now allow farmers to earn recognition, saving them time and money.
- We are reducing the volume of Defra guidance by 80%.......”
I am not the only one who is of the
opinion that the Government is failing in its responsibilities.
According to the Guardian newspaper website: “
WWF
UK,
the Angling
Trust and Fish
Legal say
they have been granted permission by the high court to pursue their
challenge to protect rivers, lakes and coastal areas from further
damage. They are seeking a judicial review, arguing that the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the
Environment Agency are failing in their legal duty to take the
necessary action to tackle the problem.Their
case focuses on habitats known as Natura 2000 sites, including
“national treasures” such as Poole harbour, in Dorset, and the
rivers Avon, Wye and Eden where pollution is having a harmful impact.
Poor land management is blamed for causing soil carrying nutrients
and pesticides to wash into waterways. The campaigners say the UK
government is required by law to take all necessary steps to ensure
rivers are in good health by December 2015, and they maintain that
that will not happen”. So
it doesn't look good for our river does it, if we can't even properly
look after the places that have been given the highest conservations
status?
Finally
I just want to reiterate a few other things that I mentioned in my
first letter, and which have either not been mentioned in the EA's
letter or that are not their particular responsibility. Firstly
runoff from roads. They did not mention anything to do with that,
maybe it is the Highways Authorities responsibility? Secondly
misconnections. I know that there is a problem with these in Endon as
I have reported detergent foam (and even milk or paint on one
occasion) in the Endon Brook where it passes under Station Road to
the EA on several occasions. They have now told me to inform Severn
Trent Water (STW). But the problem is intermittent, mainly only
showing up during dry weather when the stream is at its lowest flow.
Hence I would have to have contacted STW on several occasions every
year for the past eleven years. I would like to know what any
authority does to monitor this problem. Do they rely on people like
me reporting incidents? According to the STW website misconnections
are the householders responsibility. Does anyone ever get prosecuted
I wonder?
I
think, given all the evidence I have supplied, I suggest you might
write to Liz Truss once again, saying that it is not just one of your
constituents who is concerned about the state of our local water
courses, that you are
yourself. I look forward
to hearing the answers to the questions I have posed in this letter.
Yours
sincerely
No comments:
Post a Comment