Photo © Matt Writtle: Rebecca Pow MP by the River Mimram at the launch of the CaBA Chalk stream restoration strategy in October 2021

I’m delighted that on the 12th October 2022 the Rt Hon Rebecca Pow MP managed to raise the issue of ecological protection in parliament – citing chalk streams – making the point that a healthy ecology and a healthy economy are not mutually exclusive, rather they are symbiotic:

“I fully support this Government’s growth agenda, but would the Prime Minister agree that it can be achieved while also protecting and restoring our precious nature and ecosystems and working with our farmers, so that we meet our legally binding target to restore nature by 2030? I know she understands that; she has precious chalk streams in her own constituency. Will she agree that, if we get this right, there will be more jobs, skills and opportunities, because every nation in the world depends on its natural environment?”

I’m delighted also that the Prime Minister’s response was emphatic and in agreement:

“My hon. Friend did a fantastic job promoting the natural environment when she was at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. We are going to deliver economic growth in an environmentally friendly way. This is about improving the processes and delivering better outcomes for the environment while making sure we have a growing economy as well. Those two things go hand in hand.”

The Chalk Streams First idea, for example, is a wonderful opportunity to place an iconic ecological project at the heart of a national grid for water. Ecology and the economy together.