The Government was defeated on two key votes in the House of Lords last night in its attempt to change existing legislation on nutrient neutrality for housing developments which protect river water quality and to give itself powers to further amend protections without proper scrutiny.

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has identified possible failures to comply with environmental law by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency and Ofwat in relation to the regulation of combined sewer overflows (CSOs).  

Ofwat, the economic regulator for the water sector in England and Wales, is calling on water companies with bold and innovative projects to solve some of the water sector’s biggest challenges to apply to win the fourth Water Breakthrough Challenge.

Proposed changes to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill will reduce the level of environmental protection provided for in law and amount to a regression, the Office for Environmental Protection is warning.

The Government has confirmed its plan to relax nutrient neutrality rules by amending the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill – saying that “over 100,000 homes held up due to defective EU laws will be unblocked between now and 2030” as a result.

Ofwat has published a new paper setting out how it has used collaborative customer research to set Outcome Delivery Incentive (ODI) rates for the 2024 price review (PR24) in which the regulator acknowledges the limitations of the data collection process.

The Environment Agency has launched a new consultation on an application by United Utilities to vary an existing environmental permit for its Ellesmere Port Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) sludge treatment facility involving “substantial change.”