Comment: It’s Time to Protect Our Chalk Streams

There are few images more quintessentially British than families sitting and playing next to a babbling stream in the summertime. Chalk streams are the jewels of our national heritage. Sir David Attenborough describes them as one of the rarest habitats on Earth, and these rare, nutrient-rich ecosystems are mostly found in southern and eastern England. 

In my constituency of Chichester, we have the River Lavant, the River Ems, the Bosham Stream and the Ham Brook, all of which provide habitats for iconic species including trout and kingfishers. 

The Liberal Democrats have put forth a bill to provide UNESCO-level recognition for chalk streams. 

But the River Lavant has suffered at the hands of Southern Water’s sewage dumping, with signs lining the banks of the river last year asking visitors to “avoid making contact with the water”. The River Ems is currently considered a “river in crisis” due to heavy water abstraction by Portsmouth Water to manage supply demand in the area, and the Ham Brook is part of the local Chalk Stream Resilience Project, as it too suffers from the “sewage soup” that comes from Combined Sewer Outflows during periods of increased rainfall. 

These rare, fragile ecosystems have been treated as expendable for too long. I applaud the efforts of campaigners and volunteers in our area, as well as the Western Sussex Rivers Trust and Chichester District Council, to protect these vital rivers and streams. However, real change must be legislative, or those campaigners will be left trying to push water uphill. 

That is why I was proud to support a Liberal Democrat bill this week which sought to provide UNESCO-level recognition for chalk streams, strengthening protections and raising their international status. The government allowed the bill to progress, but with the parliamentary session due to end in two months, I believe they will allow the legislation to fall away and fail to address the crisis facing our chalk streams. We will continue to press for national protection for these precious ecosystems. 

I continue to meet regularly with Southern Water locally to discuss the measures they are putting in place to reduce sewage spills into chalk streams. The Cunliffe Review also identified that Ofwat, as a regulator, is not fit for purpose, a position we as Liberal Democrats held long before the review. We need far-reaching reform of the water sector that delivers genuine structural change, so we can all enjoy our local chalk streams, rivers and seas without fear.