M

Member

Speaking in the House of Lords on 11 September 2025

Debate

Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Contribution

The second reason given was that there is protection for chalk streams in the NPPF. However, that is not specific to chalk streams. Unless chalk streams have specific protection, they will deteriorate further. There are only 220 chalk streams in the UK, yet we have 85% of the world’s chalk streams. Of those 220, only 11 have any form of protection, because they are either SSSIs or SACs. Even they are not protected well enough. Over the summer, when we were on recess, there was an interesting piece in one of the broadsheets about the River Avon, a chalk stream that covers both Wiltshire and Hampshire, where there has been a significant decrease in wildlife and invertebrates. It is meant to have some form of protection through the existing protected sites system, but it is just not working.

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