The joint response to the draft River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) from WWF-UK, Angling Trust and Fish Legal can now be viewed online.

A framework for protecting our waters

RBMPs are crucial for delivering the Water Framework Directive. They should be the framework for setting out action that will protect our waters to prevent deterioration and enhance ecological status, promote sustainable water use, reduce pollution and mitigate the effects of floods and droughts.

This response raises concerns that these plans not only fall short of the ambition required to achieve this but the Environment Agency has missed a significant opportunity to put local communities at the heart of the planning process. In particular, the response identifies three issues that need to be resolved ahead of publication of the final plans:

• Abstraction ' where current licences are not supporting achievement of good status, these need to be amended or retracted.
• Agricultural diffuse pollution ' stricter measures are needed to make sure we are compliant with the WFD.
• Natura 2000 protected areas ' measures to ensure these areas achieve Favourable Conservation Status need to be implemented with urgency.

With just 17% of English rivers at Good Ecological Status, it is crucial that the next set of plans have the ambition and commitment needed to see real and lasting improvement in our water environment. Read the full response.