Rivers may lose last line of defence, says National Trust
The head of the National Trust and other green leaders have said that the planned scrapping of protection for rivers would amount to the “most significant unwinding of environmental law for decades”.
Ministers face growing resistance to the recent decision by Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, to scrap “nutrient neutrality” rules in an attempt to increase housebuilding.
Opponents hope to defeat a government amendment in the Lords on Wednesday.
In a letter to The Times, Hilary McGrady, director-general of the National Trust, called the protections the “last legal line of defence for precious river habitats”.
The rules have meant that developers in some sensitive areas need to reduce nutrient pollution into rivers in catchments before they can build there.
That requirement will be
