Defra and Welsh Ministers have published new river basin management planning ministerial guidance and standards, together with a summary of responses to its recent consultation.

The statutory guidance is from the Secretary of State and the Welsh Ministers to the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales. The new guidance is to help them carry out their river basin planning functions for the second planning period 2015 to 2021. The guidance sets out expectations for the main steps and principles of the river basin planning process and the documents the Agencies must produce. The new guidance incorporates and updates the parts of the existing guidance that remain relevant to the second and subsequent planning cycles.

The guidance includes a description of how the agencies will be expected to use the new and updated standards in classifying the status of water bodies, regulating controlled activities and setting environmental objectives.

In May Defra and Welsh Ministers consulted on the updated guidance to the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales respectively on river basin management planning.

At the same time, Defra and Welsh Ministers published a document setting out new and updated environmental and biological standards to protect the water environment that will be used in the 2nd river basin planning period 2015-2021. The new and revised standards will be set out in either joint or separate ministerial Directions to the EA and NRW which will replace the 2010 Standards Directions.

Respondents to the consultation generally welcomed the proposals and expressed their support for the updated and new standards for the specific pollutants in water bodies to reflect both changes in EU regulation as well as latest scientific understanding.

Affinity Water, Anglian Water, Welsh Water, South West Water, Thames Water , United Utilities and Wessex Water were among the total of 20 organisations who responded to the consultation.

By September 2015 Defra will update Directions to the Agencies on standards and classification, to replace the River Basin Districts Typology, Standards and Groundwater threshold values (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales)Directions 2010. By September 2015 the new requirements of Directive 2013/39/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of European Union, on Priority Substances will also be transposed.

Click here to access the new Guidance