Consultation outcome

Draft river basin management plans consultation: improvements to plans

Updated 22 December 2022

1. Introduction

This summary report outlines the improvements and changes the Environment Agency has made in updating the river basin management plans based on responses to the consultation on the draft plans. This is in accordance with the requirement to produce a summary of the representations and of any changes made to the plans in light of those representations under regulation 30(2)(b) Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017.

The updated river basin management plans underpin a multi-billion pound programme of investment that will take us further toward the 25 Year Environment Plan ambition of at least three-quarters of waters being close to their natural state as soon as is practicable. The key message from consultation responses is that all parts of society will need to work together to deliver the ambition for the water environment set out in the river basin management plans. The coming together of expertise, commitment, and funding from industry, government, organisations and people who have a stake in the water environment is crucial.

Through the consultation, there was wide agreement on the following issues:

• a need for a long-term planning approach to adapt to climate change
• a system-wide approach, from source to sea, being the most appropriate way to manage the water environment
• wider engagement is needed to increase knowledge of the importance of clean and plentiful water, compliance with water quality regulations and water efficiency measures
• the significant collective challenge now and ahead
• changes to planning and regulation across government, and adequate funding to deal with the impact of activity in urban areas, housing, water supply and rural areas
• the need for more nature-based solutions, accepting and managing the risk inherent in these approaches
• long-term funding for organisations, particularly catchment and estuarine and coastal partnerships and groups, to improve the environment by working collaboratively using the catchment-based approach
• monitoring and data collection using a wider range of sources, including citizen science
• better linking across other plans and strategies and with partners, for example on flood risk management and managing estuarine and coastal waters
• more easily searchable data, particularly at the local level

The implementation principles proposed in the plans have been updated and strengthened, with the aspiration that these will be widely adopted by stakeholders when implementing the plans through associated projects and programmes to improve the water environment. Responses to the consultation were supportive of the principles but indicated some of them would be hard to adopt emphasising the clear need to work together to develop and embed them. Further detail will be added during the life of the plans.

The Environment Agency has worked to ensure effective coordination between the river basin management plans and flood risk management plans. This is critical to build resilient catchments and meet the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan aspirations. Aligning the river basin management plans and flood risk management plans will help to mitigate the impact of natural hazards and contribute to the delivery of the ambitions in the National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England.

Many of the comments received have wider and longer-term implications for water that are outside the scope of the plans. These comments have been shared within the Environment Agency and with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). They are being used to provide insight and background for wider strategic planning and implementation. An example of this is Defra’s Environment Improvement Plan, due to be published in 2023. Defra, Natural England and the Environment Agency are assessing the use of new interventions to further improve the water environment. The Environment Improvement Plan will build on and incorporate:

• current work on river basin management plans
• Environment Act 2021 targets
• the recommendations of the Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry into water quality in rivers

Information is provided in the river basin management plans’ summary programmes of measures showing how the river basin management plans link to Defra water policy development work.

The Environment Agency would like to thank those who responded to the consultation on the draft updates to the river basin management plans. Consultation responses have helped improve the plans and will be used to help to achieve wider outcomes in the water environment.

2. Finding information in the plans

The structure of the plans has been improved, in response to comments that finding information within the draft plans was not easy. Improvements include:

• individual river basin district landing pages, with introductory text and all relevant links on one page

• separation of the ‘plan summary’ document from the draft plans into individual documents, focusing on specific aspects of the plans, making the overall structure of the plans clearer and more distinct:

  • introduction to the river basin management plans
  • implementing the river basin management plans
  • current condition and environmental objectives
  • challenges for the water environment
  • summary programmes of measures
• clearer links and references have been added to improve navigation around and between documents and more links to background information and detailed explanations have been provided
• a data summary table for habitats sites (also known as European sites) is now displayed on the protected areas pages.
• clearer and more complete explanations within the river basin planning process overview document, for example, the process for reviewing and updating water body status objectives

More explanations have been provided on the concepts and principles discussed, as many respondents commented on the use of language and terminology (notably around implementation principles). The glossary has been expanded to include terms cited by some respondents as needing more explanation or to provide context for how they are used in the plans.

Additional explanatory text has been included in appropriate places explaining the content of the plans in relation to other, more detailed or geographically specific, plans and programmes. This was in response to comments about the expected content of the plans, particularly the amount of local level detail provided.

Links to Safeguard Zone Action Plans have been added to the summary programmes of measures as several respondents expressed an interest in drinking water protected areas being included.

2.1 Catchment Data Explorer and online maps

Many responses to the consultation were positive about the new data viewers that make data and maps more readily available, however some respondents found the volume of information and the scale it is initially presented at both intimidating and complex to navigate. Therefore, these further improvements have been made for the updated plans:

• the map and data systems have been made more accessible – additional explanation of the available content has been added, for example, explanation on the chemical status failures has been added to the data explorers
• key features have been made more prominent, for example, accessing the catchment partnerships pages, or switching between river basin management plan data, which is a ‘fixed’ data set, and the latest data available, which is updated quarterly
• other enhancements include better navigation between water bodies, data quality improvements, upgraded map application and the addition of a chalk waters map (which can also be overlayed onto other maps)

The Environment Agency will continue to make improvements to Catchment Data Explorer and online maps after the updated plans are published, with more functionality and data available over time. There will also be:

• simpler descriptions of the condition of each water body
• the cause of any human impact
• the plans to improve or protect the water body

3. Implementation principles

There was a clear message that there was a need for more join up to implement the principles to deliver multiple benefits. The Environment Agency will continue to connect river basin management plans with other strategies and programmes, like:

• flood risk management plans
• the Water Industry National Environment Programme
• Local Nature Recovery Strategies
• future farming programmes led by government

User guides will be developed and made available to expand on the implementation principles and support their adoption during implementation of the updated plans. These will help users with particular interests find relevant actions, data and information more readily.

The implementation principles have been strengthened to include:

• more detail about citizen science
• improving diversity of partners engaged in the water environment
• planning for the long term with climate change in mind

The plans have been improved to highlight the climate change information in the implementation principles. Respondents expressed an interest in seeing more information relating to how the Environment Agency is approaching and responding to the climate emergency. The Environment Agency has incorporated climate risks and impacts into measures to better respond to climate change. More detailed information on climate change can be found in the topic action plans in the summary programmes of measures document, which includes information on the use of monitoring data to understand future climate risks and achieving net zero.

In response to comments that asked for the plans to provide a clearer sense of integrated planning, a new principle to ‘recognise the journey of water from source to sea – catchment to coast’ has been added. This will help to develop and implement schemes that take account of how upstream decisions can impact on downstream systems as well as recognising some of the unique challenges faced in estuarine and coastal waters.

A number of recommendations and suggestions provided were about nature-based solutions. As these relate to measures and initiatives already included within the draft plans, the information has been amended to make this clearer.

4. Environmental objectives

Corrections have been made to some water body status objectives after concerns were raised in a consultation response that some objectives had been updated incorrectly and checks showed this was the case in a small number of water bodies.

5. Measures

The updated plans have a specific summary programmes of measures webpage, bringing together the relevant documents that comprise the summary programmes of measures, with links to the measures data.

Signposting within the summary programmes of measures spreadsheets has been improved, identifying where to find more local information on the measures. The plans include a clearer explanation of why and how partnership actions and measures identified in the catchment partnership pages are part of the summary programmes of measures. Many responses stated they were unsure where these were located.

Greater explanation has been included within the summary programmes of measures about how to find information and data that reflects users’ different interests and information needs. There was some lack of clarity around the description of the level of certainty that measures will be implemented so clarification has been provided. For example, ‘potential new measures’ are identified as ‘potential’ mainly because of the uncertainty over their funding.

The ‘confident measures’ spreadsheets have been updated and improved with additional national and local measures, some as a direct result of consultation responses. These encompass a broad range of policy areas, sectors and aspects of water and land management. They include, for example, measures aligned with:

• managing flood and coastal erosion risk
• water supply
• coastal and freshwater restoration
• nature recovery
• spatial planning

The descriptions of some measures have been improved, for example, to ensure the intent to improve catchment to coast working is clear and following suggestions that some partners were missing or under-represented in collaborative working. Recommendations for more targeted local measures are considered locally as part of the ongoing river basin planning process.

Topic action plans have been added to the summary programmes of measures (these replace the ‘new government initiatives’ section in the draft plans). The topic action plans are a summary of strategic actions to protect and enhance the water environment. They explain how the priorities identified by the government in its guidance to the Environment Agency on river basin planning are being addressed. In addition, they update emerging policy areas and provide more information on topics raised in some responses to the consultation on the draft plans. The topics covered are:

• integrated whole system approach
• Environment Act targets
• climate change
• nature recovery
• chalk rivers
• delivering a resilient supply
• sewage discharges and storm overflows
• inland bathing waters
• growth, urban development and gross plastic pollution
• agriculture
• chemicals and microplastics
• monitoring

Wording in the summary programmes of measures has been updated, making better reference to key policies with implications for spatial planning and the environment. This is in response to requests to see more explicit reference to new and emerging policy and legislation. For example, how river basin management plans will support the establishment of Local Nature Recovery Strategies and delivery of biodiversity net gain through development planning.

The draft plans highlighted that funding was likely to continue to be a challenge. In response to comments about a lack of appropriate funding, the Environment Agency has added detail around the approach to funding.  This includes the importance of working collaboratively and in a more integrated way to maximise the effectiveness of existing funding, but also identifying new investors and partners, as outlined in the implementation principles.

The wording of several sections within the mechanisms document has been strengthened to encourage a source to sea - catchment to coast approach. A section about estuarine and coastal partnerships has been added to highlight their important role in delivering improvements in estuarine and coastal environments.

6. Catchment Partnership pages

A new page has been added to catchment data explorer, listing all the catchment partnerships pages by management catchment and including links to their location. Links to this new page have been included in relevant parts of the plans. These adjustments address concerns raised in some consultation responses, making sure that the catchment partnerships pages are easy to find and link closely to the plans.

There was support for including catchment partnership pages and the partnerships content in the plans. This positive feedback was passed on to catchment partnerships. Individual catchment partnerships considered ideas for inclusion or edits to specific catchment pages and updated them accordingly. A few responses said the catchment partnership pages were hard to navigate, too data heavy and the language used was too technical. Partnerships were encouraged to use non-technical language and some further explanation has been added to the catchment pages.

Catchment pages now include a section enabling partnerships to input actions related to wider water environment challenges. This can include partners’ actions and how collaboration over the next 6 years will incorporate new and developing schemes. This change was made after some consultation responses suggested catchment partnerships pages should include measures from other strategic plans to show how wider benefits can be achieved.

Another addition to the pages enables the partnership to add a localised statement on why the future challenges are a specific issue in their catchment. They were also encouraged to include, either in the vision statement or in their plan for developing the partnership, how they will encompass the challenges of future climate change, land use change and population growth. The design of the catchment partnership pages now has more space for text while still considering accessibility and readability.

Any additional measures recommended through the consultation for inclusion in Catchment Partnerships’ priority action and measures lists will be considered by these partnerships.

For the catchment partnership pages’ update, catchment partnerships were encouraged to engage with a broader and more diverse range of stakeholders to develop the final page. This follows some consultation responses stating that landowners and farmers had not been involved in the development of the pages and therefore the development of the summary programmes of measures. Partnerships were also encouraged to work with any coastal partnerships and groups in refreshing their catchment partnership pages for the updated plans. This is in response to suggestions that better connections could be made with the estuarine and coastal environment and stakeholders that depend on these environments. One example of this is the Championing Coastal Coordination initiative that is exploring how to develop and govern a network of coastal stakeholders including existing partnerships and groups. The outcomes of this project will lead to better connections between catchment and coast and support addressing some of the unique challenges in estuarine and coastal waters.