Michael Gove has claimed waterways are “cleaner than they have been in past” despite ripping up rules to prevent water pollution.
In an interview with Times Radio, the housing secretary said it was a “widespread myth” that the quality of water in the UK has deteriorated.
His comments follow the government’s announcement it would tear-up European Union rules designed to curb water pollution in a bid to boost housebuilding in England.
The EU rules, set by Natural England, prevent housing developments or projects from increasing nutrient levels to dangerous levels in local wetlands or waterways in protected areas.
According to developers, the rules as they stand have resulted in as many as 120,000 news homes being put on hold.
Gove’s department for levelling up, housing and communities said that while nutrients entering rivers was “a real” problem, the contribution made by new homes was “very small”.
He said: “Of course, our rivers aren’t as clean as they should be, but they are cleaner than they have been in the past.”
Challenged by presenter John Pienaar that pollution was in-fact worse, Gove replied: “No, no, I want to pick you up on that.”
“Actually, we’ve seen record levels investment between 2020 and 2025… England will be spending more on improving its water than other European countries.
“And it’s also the case that if you look at the real measures of pollution in our rivers – if you look, for example, at the ammonia, which is a sort of principal by-product of some of the waste that we’re talking about here, it’s a key indicator of sewage in our waters – the ammonia being detected has gone down.”
‘Total ecological collapse’
Tuesday’s announcement attracted widespread condemnation from environmental campaigners, with groups warning of “total ecological collapse” if pollution accumulates unchecked in rivers.
Water firms discharged sewage into Britain’s waterways more than 300,000 times last year, with 75% of UK rivers posing a ‘serious risk’ to human health.
According to research by Loughborough University, untreated sewage was discharged into English waterways for more than 2.5 million hours in 2021.
And the environmental performance of the UK’s water and sewage companies fell to the lowest level on record in 2021, according to the Environment Agency, with the nation ranked as one of the worst countries in Europe for water quality.
The water industry has promised to make £10 billion of investment in sewerage infrastructure, with the upfront payment recuperated from consumers by gradually increasing bills over times.
Clean rivers campaigner Fearful Sharkey described the government’s scrapping of pollution rules as a “complete and utter shambles” and warned that “the environment has now been left to fend for itself.”
Speaking to BBC’s World at One, he said: “This morning the last vestiges of any pretence that this government is in any way actually interested in the environment has now just been shredded. In the words of Zac Goldsmith … this government actually isn’t really interested in the environment.”
Meanwhile, Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, said: “Scrapping the rules that are merely trying to stop rivers becoming even more polluted will allow vested interests to make more money at the expense of our rivers and the natural environment.”
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