The UK Government announced this week the launch of the Environmental Improvement Plan, whilst at the same time the Environment Agency is launching a consultation to allow EDF to further pollute the Severn Estuary with fish unnecessarily killed by the removal of innovative environmental protections.
Rebecca Pow, the MP for Taunton Deane and a Government’s environment minister, made a major announcement regarding the government’s new Environmental Improvement Plan which outlines pledges, commitments, and targets aimed at promoting green growth, creating new jobs, and supporting the 70,000 people already working in conservation and the environment. The new plan includes a five-year delivery plan to tackle pollution in air, water, and land. The goal is to halt the decline of nature by 2030 and then reverse it.
At the same time, EDF refused to install acoustic fish deterrents and is now pushing the Environment Agency to drop the requirement for these measures. The Environment Agency is currently holding a four-week consultation on whether the Hinkley Point C site’s water discharge permit should be altered which experts believe will lead to mass fish deaths. If EDF is successful, the company will need to apply for a change in the Development Control Order that allowed it to build the power station.
