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Thursday 27 August 2015
Government Faces Legal Challenge
After Failing to Protect Some of England’s Most Precious Rivers
The High Court has granted permission for WWF-UK, the Angling Trust and Fish Legal to challenge Defra and the Environment Agency over their failure to protect some of England’s most precious rivers, lakes and coastal areas from agricultural pollution.
The focus of the court case is on habitats that are protected by law and known as Natura 2000 sites (1). They include national treasures like Poole Harbour and the Rivers Avon, Wye & Eden, where pollution is having a harmful impact on species that should thrive in these habitats. The UK government is required by law to take all the necessary steps to ensure they are at good health by December 2015, but it is not going to achieve this (2).
This is because current action is not sufficient to tackle the scale of the problem. To protect these special habitats adequately, WWF, the Angling Trust and Fish Legal want the government to use all the tools at its disposal to ensure these precious places are properly protected and restored for people and wildlife.
This would include Water Protection Zones (WPZs), which were identified by the Environment Agency in 2009 as its preferred tool to reduce pollution if voluntary measures were not successful. (3)
David Nussbaum, Chief Executive, WWF-UK, said: “The health of our rivers and lakes is one of the most critical concerns for WWF-UK, the Angling Trust and Fish Legal. Not only are they vital for important species such as Atlantic salmon, bullhead fish, bittern and kingfisher, but they are also important for recreational activities such as fishing, walking and birdwatching, […]