Government Response to the Office for Environmental Protection Report on the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive Regulations and River Basin Management Planning in England

Statement

Today the Government is laying before the House its full response to the Office for Environmental Protection’s (OEP’s) review of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) Regulations and River Basin Management Planning.

The Government welcomes the OEP’s recommendations and accepts its key conclusions that not enough progress has been made by previous governments to improve the water environment and meet the WFD objective to restore 75% of water bodies to good ecological status or good ecological potential. We face a major challenge in achieving these objectives due to years of under investment and insufficient action.

This Government is committed to taking action to accelerate progress on improving the water environment. There are systemic issues that require urgent reform of our water system. The government will set out over the coming months its plans to fundamentally transform how our water system works and clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good. This will include a review of the framework that underpins our water sector, to ensure it delivers long-term stability, and reflects the needs of customers and the environment. We expect that the OEP’s review of the WFD will be an important contribution to inform the review.

The Government Response will be available on GOV.UK.