There was no question there. If the hon. Gentleman could not be bothered to put that point in his speech, that is hardly my problem.
Let us use the body that we have in place, and ensure that that leads to meaningful action; that can happen. If the fines we want to see water companies pay for failure of duty can be issued, we can restore confidence in the network by seeing that money go back into the system. We need the regulator to be enforced with teeth for meaningful action. Scrapping it and then looking for a replacement, which is inevitably what will happen, will not lead to any better levels of responsibility from water companies.
In my constituency, I have seen £5.3 million invested in our waterways. It is clear that more money will be needed and invested. We need to ensure that monitoring is 100% all year round, and that we keep an eye on that. Some of us swim all year round, so we want to see that the monitoring is in place. I am acutely aware of campaigns across my area—from the Friends of the River Dart groups to those on our beaches such as Surfers Against Sewage—to ensure that bathing water status is protected.
This is an important issue on which the Government have taken meaningful action. We must be clear about the progress we have made to date. We cannot click our fingers and ensure that things happen immediately, because this takes time. Not only would it be impossible to click our fingers and say to a water company that it must do everything immediately; it will lead to serious implications for the existing network, with flow back to people’s houses.
We must be clear about that. The steps that we have set to 2030, 2035 and 2050 are the right steps. They are measurable, with report indicators to come back to Government to justify their actions. Through those mechanisms, we can hold the water companies to account to ensure they are delivering on time, at speed and at price —and that they are not pushing that back to consumers.
We all want to protect our coastlines, which is why the Environment Act 2021, the Agriculture Act 2020 and the Fisheries Act 2020 contain enforceable legislation to ensure that we look after our waterways, enhance biodiversity, and keep this a green and pleasant land to live upon.
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