Shosha Adie

The government’s plan to create a single regulator for water will require navigating the merger of current regulators with “fundamentally different” ideologies, according to the head of the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI).

The government has launched a consultation on whether to reduce its target for 80% of all new car sales to be zero emission by 2030, or introduce further flexibilities.

More than 300 rivers in England have received a lower ecological status since the last full health check was carried out six years ago, an ENDS analysis shows, with worse outcomes for fish recorded at half of these waterbodies.

Campaign group River Action has been granted permission to take the government to court over its policy for putting water companies into a Special Administration Regime (SAR), after an initial refusal.

DEFRA has confirmed the full ministerial briefs for its top team following a reshuffle in July, including a promotion for Emma Hardy and an expanded nature ministerial role for the department’s newest minister.

A small increase in UK food samples with limit-breaching levels of pesticides was recorded last year, according to a disbanded expert committee, which has concluded in its final report that levels in the food supply are “generally well-controlled”.

A leading academic has raised questions about the Veterinary Medicine Directorate’s (VMD) funding, claiming that its receipt of money from the veterinary pharmaceutical industry represents a “clear conflict” with efforts to address pollution from pet flea treatments.

A chemicals industry trade body is set to warn the government that it has “significant concerns” about the costs still associated with chemicals registrations post-Brexit, and whether the regulator is equipped to administer the main chemicals legislation “effectively”.

A London council has raised concerns about a drought resilience scheme which it says could see higher concentrations of pollutants discharged into the river Thames at Teddington.

The Scottish government has said it plans to merge its four environmental agencies into one single body over the next five years.