KEIGHLEY and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore has backed what are claimed to be ‘realistic and achievable’ government plans to clean up our rivers.

Mr Moore has spoken as the Environment Bill comes before the House of Commons.

The MP is a long-time advocate of cleaning up our rivers, and has strongly backed efforts to clean up the River Wharfe. Last year, the MP helped secured ‘bathing water status’ for the Ilkley section of the River Wharfe from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

He backed an amendment by environmentalist, and former editor of the Ecologist magazine, Lord Goldsmith. The amendment requires ‘unprecedented levels of transparency from water and sewage companies’, according to the Rivers Trust, who have called it ‘a significant victory for river health, and indeed river users’. The amendment requires companies to report in real-time on the location and duration of sewage spills, rather than their previous annual summary.

Lord Goldsmith’s second amendment - also supported by Mr Moore - means water and sewer companies are required to monitor water quality in receiving water bodies upstream and downstream where CSOs and treated effluent are discharged.

However, an opposition amendment put forward to force water companies to pay for major upgrades to Victorian-era water and sewer systems was thrown out, after analysis put the cost of the amendment at up to £650 billion, which would have meant significantly increased bills for consumers over the next decade.

Mr Moore, who serves on the Environment Bill Committee in Parliament said: “We need a realistic and achievable plan to clean up our rivers, and one which is practical to implement and can be enforced. You can’t govern by headlines.

"As a Member of the Environment Bill Committee in Parliament, I pushed the government hard to secure more protection for our rivers. I am pleased tough new measures are being brought in to direct the Water Services Regulatory Authority to ensure water companies take steps to significantly reduce storm sewage overflows, alongside publishing a plan to eliminate them all together. The Environment Bill will put significant pressure on water companies, like Yorkshire Water, to stop sewage discharge into our river systems altogether.

The opposition amendment to the Bill which would have forced water companies to pay to upgrade storm systems which have operated since the Victorian era would have led to massively increased water bills for us all. That's not right, and that's why I supported the government's plans instead.

"I will continue to campaign hard to clean up our rivers, but this has to be done practically, with knowledge of the detail, and not just using ‘headline’ politics without consideration of how it will be done.”

The government’s 25 Year Environment Plan sets out its commitment to ensuring the provision of clean and plentiful water, through legally binding targets on water quality. Earlier this year, the government announced that Farmers will be given additional £17m in support to reduce water pollution.

The government has also commissioned the Environment Agency with a range of enforcement powers. Most recently, Southern Water were fined a record £90m, after pleading guilty to thousands of illegal discharges of sewage into rivers and coastal waters.

Between 2020 and 2025 water companies will invest £7.1 billion on environmental improvements across England, of which £3.1 billion will be invested in storm overflow improvements.