Olivia Bailey

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouthshire (Catherine Fookes) for securing this vital debate. I will focus my speech on the protection and restoration of our country’s precious chalk streams—precious because of not just their unique ecology but their unique association with the English countryside. There are estimated to be only around 200 chalk streams in the world, and the vast majority are in England. I am proud that two of them—the Pang and the Kennet—run through my constituency. Not only are their nutrient-rich waters home to a rich diversity of species, but they are beloved by local anglers, dog walkers and families. Their beauty has inspired many, with the Pang said to be the inspiration for “The Wind in the Willows”. However, the Pang and the Kennet have seen a devastating decline in recent years. According to Environment Agency data, the Pang’s ecological status has gone from good in 2016 to moderate in 2019, and it is now rated as poor. Last year, I tested the Pang with local campaigners from the Angling Trust and found that phosphate levels were three times what they should be. That leads to increased algae, depleted oxygen and significant damage to wildlife, plants and fish. Action for the River Kennet has estimated that Thames Water’s sewage works account for 52% of the phosphate pollution in the river, but Thames Water has so far refused to include phosphate stripping in its plans for the sewage works at Hampstead Norreys. It has said it will review the issue, but that is not good enough: we need real action, and I call on Thames Water for just that. I welcome the actions the Government have taken to tackle the water companies that have been acting without accountability for too long. The Water (Special Measures) Bill will finally penalise water bosses who pollute our water. I am looking forward to working with the Minister to clean up the Pang, the Kennet and all our chalk streams—an ambition I know she shares. The beautiful west Berkshire villages nestled along the banks of the beautiful River Pang have suffered terribly as Thames Water has pumped raw sewage into the river. In Hampstead Norreys, raw sewage ran for months down the main street; in Compton, residents had to erect a sign to ask drivers to drive slowly so that they did not splash schoolchildren with putrid water. Enough is enough: we must restore our chalk streams to their former glory, so that the Pang—captured so wonderfully by Kenneth Grahame in “The Wind in the Willows”—can continue to be “a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.”