Kent Wildlife Trust has described the blocking of government plans to scrap “nutrient neutrality” rules as a “win for nature”, but vows to continue to fight for greater protection for our rivers.

On Wednesday, 14 September, Peers voted against the amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill which would have seen pollution laws relaxed to aid developers.

Nutrient neutrality is a means of ensuring that a development plan or project does not add to existing nutrient burdens within catchments, so there is no net increase in nutrients as a result of the plan or project.

In Kent, the axing of the EU law would have put further pressure on the River Stour, which is already flooded with nitrates and phosphates.

The plans can not be resubmitted to the House of Lords because of the late stage in which the government had attempted to introduce it. The amendment was defeated by 203 votes to 156, a majority of 47.

Daniel Wynn Head of Nature-based Solutions at Kent Wildlife Trust: “We are delighted that these plans have been halted, it is a win for nature. In Kent, the Stour Catchment is quite literally flooded with nitrates and phosphates from various sources, housebuilding being just one of them. We now need the government to do more to protect our rivers.

“We have seen that time and again economic growth has been favoured over environmental protection, and especially now, when the natural capital markets present us with a golden opportunity to embed green finance within our economy to the benefit of both nature and society, we need a systemic change to rewrite our future and cut off future threats to nature and people through building a sustainable economy with nature at its heart.

“Our rivers need protection, it is disgraceful that a nationally protected site like the Stodmarsh Nature Reserve has been allowed to creep into poor condition because of the rubbish, pollution and sewerage that is allowed to freely flow into the river, a river that used to be the life-support system of our landscape is rapidly turning into the poison that will erode the last pieces of nature still clinging on.

“Nature recovery is fundamental to the health and wellbeing of our society, and we are allowing it to be polluted and ignored. It is time to do more to protect rivers, not less.”

To learn more about Kent Wildlife Trust and our #DefendNature campaign, visit our website.