questionText: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to provide bespoke protections for (a) the River Itchen and (b) other chalk streams; whether he plans to use planning reforms to support the protection of chalk streams; whether he plans to designate chalk streams and their surrounding habitats as irreplaceable; and what funding his Department plans to provide (i) for sustainable drainage systems in chalk catchments and (ii) to support higher water efficiency standards.
answerText: The River Itchen is already designated as a Special Area of Conservation and many of our chalk streams benefit from some form of designation. Chalk streams can be considered when setting the outcomes for a future system of environmental assessment. This G...
heading: Rivers: Conservation