Media Notice
Monday 30 January 2012
RIVERS TRUST DIRECTOR SPEAKS TO LORDS AS PART OF EU FRESHWATER INQUIRY
Dr Dylan Bright, Trust Director, Westcountry Rivers Trust, will be questioned by the Lords Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries EU Sub-Committee on Wednesday 1 February as part of their inquiry into EU freshwater policy.
The Westcountry Rivers Trust is an environmental charity working to preserve, protect, develop and improve the UK’s freshwater system in the West Country. The Committee are particularly interested in the Trust’s experiences of applying the ecosystem services concept to water management (by paying farmers for clean water), an approach which may become more widespread as implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) continues.
The Committee will quiz Dr Bright on issues such as:
- his view on the UK’s current arrangements for water management and the impact of the WFD on water management and river water quality so far;
- whether the payment for ecosystem service approach could be expanded beyond farming and integrated with other benefits such as carbon capture; and
- what governments can do to help with these changes and what role the EU can play in making it happen.
The evidence session will take place on Wednesday 1 February at 11.00am in Committee Room 3A of the House of Lords.
Notes to Editors
- Journalists and members of the public are welcome to attend. A regularly updated schedule of meetings will be available on the website. Please contact the Lords Press Office or subscribe to email alerts and newsfeeds if you would like to be kept informed. The Committee expects to publish its report in spring 2012.
- You can watch the session live on the internet at www.parliamentlive.tv.
- The Committee has previously heard evidence from:
- Laurence Smith, Senior Lecturer and Head of the Centre for Development, Environment and Policy for the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London;
- Andrew Fairburn, Head of Public Policy at Severn Trent Water;
- Howard Brett, Wastewater Policy and Strategy Manager at Thames Water;
- Sarah Mukherjee, Director of Environment at Water UK;
- Professor Alan Jenkins, Deputy Director and Water Science Director of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology;
- Andrew Clark, Head of Policy Services and Gwyn Jones, Vice President, NFU;
- Frau Heide Jekel, German Ministry for the Environment;
- Tony Smith, Chief Executive, Deryck Hall, Head of Policy & Research and Dr Ana-Maria Millan, Policy Manager, Consumer Council for Water; and
- Keith Mason, Senior Director of Finance and Networks and Noel Wheatley, Director of Environmental Policy, Ofwat.
You can find a transcript of these evidence sessions on the Committee’s website.
- The House of Lords Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment EU Committee’s remit is to scrutinise EU documents and policy in agriculture, fisheries and the environment. For more information about the Committee, please see its website.
- The Lords Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment EU Committee is chaired by Lord Carter of Coles. To arrange interviews or other media activity with the Committee please contact Clare Ramsaran on +44(0) 207 219 8550.
House of Lords Press Office
House of Lords
London SW1A 0PW
020 7219 8550
