Consultation outcome

Upper Costa Beck programme of measures: summary of consultation responses

Updated 12 September 2024

1. Introduction

River basin management plans (RBMPs) are nationally important plans to protect and improve the water environment. They describe the challenges that threaten the water environment and how these challenges can be managed and funded. They set out how organisations, stakeholders and communities will work together to improve the water environment. 

The aim of these plans is to enhance nature and the natural water assets that are the foundation of everyone’s health, wealth, and wellbeing. Along with the things people value, including culture and wildlife. Rivers, lakes, canals, estuaries, coasts and groundwater, and the essential services they provide, underpin economic growth and are worth billions of pounds to the economy. All parts of society benefit from clean and plentiful water. 

The Environment Agency co-ordinates the 6-yearly review of RBMPs. The current river basin management plans were published in December 2022.  

1.1 Judicial Review of Humber River Basin Management Plan 

In 2023 Pickering Fishery Association (the Claimant) was given permission to challenge the decision of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (the Defendant) to approve the updated Humber RBMP on 14 December 2022.   

The central allegation was that the Humber RBMP failed to set out individual water body specific measures so that it was clearly identifiable what measures were being taken to ensure water body environmental objectives would be met in the Upper Costa Beck, a water body in the River Derwent catchment in Yorkshire.   

The Judicial Review hearing took place at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on 12 and 13 July 2023.  

The Court found in favour of the Claimant and issued an Order, sealed on 21 February 2024 setting out the required relief; this was subsequently amended at the request of Pickering Fishery Association, and with the agreement of all parties, to allow more time for the consultation period. 

The Court Order is detailed below, using the amended timescales agreed between all parties and approved by the Court: 

• It is declared that the Water Framework Directive 2000 (“WFD”) and the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) England and Wales Regulations 2017 (“the Regulations”) require (a) that the periodic review of programmes of measures established under Article 11 WFD and regulation 12 of the Regulations must be undertaken at the individual water body level (as opposed to merely at river basin district level, or even national level); and (b) that the programmes of measures must set out the water-body specific measures to be taken to achieve the environmental objectives for each water body. 
• The Secretary of State’s decision to approve the Humber RBMP is quashed insofar as it relates to the programme of measures as it applies to Upper Costa Beck. 
• The Environment Agency must, within 24 weeks of the date on which this Order takes effect: 
  • Review and, so far as such review requires, update the programme of measures and draft proposed Humber RBMP as they apply to the Upper Costa Beck; 
  • Undertake a lawful public consultation in respect of the proposed updated programme of measures and draft proposed Humber RBMP as they apply to the Upper Costa Beck, allowing a period of no less than 56 days for consultation responses; and 
  • Conscientiously take into account consultation responses in formulating a final proposed revised and updated Humber RBMP and submit it to the Secretary of State for approval. 
• The Secretary of State must make a decision on the proposed Humber RBMP (taking account of responses to the public consultation) by no later than 4 weeks from the date on which the proposed Humber RBMP is submitted for approval. 

1.2 Purpose of this document 

This document:  

• describes the steps the Environment Agency has taken to comply with the Court Order 
• describes the changes made to the proposed programme of measures for Upper Costa Beck and Humber RBMP following consideration of the consultation responses 
• addresses the main points raised by consultees in their responses  

2. How we ran the consultation

2.1 Steps taken by the Environment Agency to comply with the Court Order 

In the ten-week period from the issuing of the Court Order to the start of the consultation, the Environment Agency reviewed its information on current status, pressures, reasons for not achieving good, and the current and potential measures and activity in Upper Costa Beck. This review focussed on the programme of measures for Upper Costa Beck, as well as considering the available evidence on current condition and the potential pressures impacting on the water body. The review considered the effectiveness of current measures in place within the Upper Costa Beck catchment, including existing environmental permits.  

The public consultation on the proposed updated programme of measures for Upper Costa Beck opened on 29 April and closed on 24 June.  

The Environment Agency’s review work continued during the 8-week consultation period and the 6 weeks after the close of the consultation, taking into account the information provided in the consultation responses. 

This work included looked at the evidence for potential pressures acting on the water body. The Environment Agency carefully reviewed the available evidence to determine if the confidence in any of the reasons for not achieving good (RNAG) could be improved sufficiently to justify specific measures, or whether the available evidence indicated that a pressure could be discounted and the RNAG data updated accordingly.  

The Environment Agency submitted to the Secretary of State a final proposed revised and updated programme of measures for Upper Costa Beck for inclusion in a revised Humber RBMP on 5 August 2024. 

The Secretary of State has until 2 September to decide whether to approve the proposed revised and updated programme of measures for Upper Costa Beck for inclusion in a revised Humber RBMP. 

2.2 Summary of respondents and number of responses

The Environment Agency received 7 responses to the consultation.  

Four responses were submitted via the Citizen Space consultation site and 3 were submitted by letter or email. 

Two responses were from individuals. 5 responses were from organisations: 

• Office for Environmental Protection 
• Pickering Fishery Association 
• Vale of Pickering Internal Drainage Board 
• Yorkshire Water 
• Yorkshire Wildlife Trust 

3. Summary of proposed changes made to the Humber River Basin Management Plan following the consultation  

The Environment Agency has conscientiously considered the consultation responses whilst continuing to review the evidence currently available about the issues affecting the Upper Costa Beck and the measures required to achieve the water body’s objective of good ecological potential by 2027. This has led to the Environment Agency making changes to the proposals consulted on for the updated Humber RBMP and programme of measures for Upper Costa Beck.  

These changes are listed in more detail below with accompanying explanations. The main changes in summary are: 

• Commitment to undertake additional measures to address agriculture pressures: 
  • Dedicated agriculture officers targeting farms in the Upper Costa Beck catchment. 
  • Regulatory work linked to farm improvements at high priority farms in Upper Costa Beck catchment. 
• Addition of a deadline for completing the review of potential mitigation measures and the identification of specific actions and restoration measures that are required. 
• Addition of deadlines for completing investigations into pressures that may be affecting fish to either discount pressures as having any impact or improve confidence to the point that measures can be identified and implemented. 
• Discounted Pickering sewage treatment works as a source of sediment or dissolved oxygen pressures impacting on fish. 

4. Summary of key findings and actions we will take

4.1 Lack of specific committed measures; most of the reasons for not achieving good (RNAG) linked to fish are ‘suspected’ 

Most of the consultation responses noted the lack of specific measures particularly in relation to the pressures potentially affecting fish, where most of the RNAG were rated as ‘suspected’. 

The water environment is complex and dynamic and, as a result, evaluating and understanding the extent and causes of impacts is an ongoing and often complicated process. Where a pressure (RNAG) is only suspected of having an impact, more evidence is needed to either enable the pressure and reason to be ruled out as a cause of any impact, or to improve confidence in the reason to the point where the required actions can then be identified, including if appropriate, regulatory actions. Not all actions are the responsibility of the Environment Agency to implement. It is therefore important that any evidence is robust enough to persuade others of the need to act. Where regulatory action is required, the evidence must be sufficient and strong enough to demonstrate that the Environment Agency has acted reasonably.   

Timescales have been added for completing the investigations into the pressures that may be affecting fish. These investigations will seek to determine whether the pressures can be discounted as having any impact or can improve confidence to the point that measures can be justified, identified and implemented. 

4.2 Funding for measures 

Several responses referred to funding for measures; some expected to see details of committed funding for measures. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust expressed concern that funding for Upper Costa Beck measures would be diverted from elsewhere due to the Judicial Review.  

Until specific measures are confirmed, it is not possible to indicate the source of funding since that will vary depending on the specific measures required, who is responsible for implementing them and the mechanism used for delivering those measures.  

Any funding used to undertake measures would need to make use of available funding sources and delivery mechanisms. There is no ‘ring-fenced’ funding pot specific to addressing the required action in Upper Costa Beck.  

The Environment Agency must balance decisions on the allocation of its own funding and resources based on the need to meet all of its duties and commitments in relation to the environmental objectives in the Humber River Basin District, not just those relating to Upper Costa Beck. 

4.3 Mitigation measures needed for Upper Costa Beck to achieve good ecological potential 

Several responses noted the lack of detailed committed actions in relation to mitigation measures for the physical modifications in Upper Costa Beck to achieve the objective of good ecological potential. 

As part of the review carried out in preparation for the consultation, the Environment Agency reassessed the designated uses of Upper Costa Beck and the relevant mitigation measures for each designated use, discounting any mitigation measures that were clearly not relevant to Upper Costa Beck. Further work is needed to review the remaining potential mitigation measures at a more detailed level and identify the specific actions and restoration measures for Upper Costa Beck that will need to be completed to achieve the water body’s objective of good ecological potential.  

Vale of Pickering Internal Drainage Board provided detailed comments and suggestions on the potential mitigation measures. The Environment Agency will take this information into account during the next stage of establishing, within 12 months, what specific actions are required.  

The Environment Agency will work with, and consult, all relevant parties, including Vale of Pickering Internal Drainage Board, during the process of identifying and implementing the specific actions to be taken forward in Upper Costa Beck. 

All mitigation measures must alleviate the effects of human alteration without having a significant adverse effect on the designated uses of the water body or on the wider environment. Only those actions that are genuinely relevant to Upper Costa Beck and likely to deliver more than a slight improvement to the ecology will be taken forward.  

4.4 Sewage discharges as a source of sediment and dissolved oxygen problems 

Having carefully reviewed the available evidence and considered the consultation responses, the Environment Agency has concluded that Pickering Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) should no longer be considered as a source of sediment or dissolved oxygen problems impacting on fish in Upper Costa Beck. The reasons for this decision are:  

• Suspended solids from the final effluent discharge at Pickering WWTW remains within the permit limit of 30mg/l.  
• Biological oxygen demand (BOD) from the final effluent discharge at Pickering WWTW remains within the permit limit of 20mg/l.  
• Pickering WWTW also has a treatment process for removing total phosphorus from the effluent which is known to improve performance of the existing treatment process by further reducing BOD and suspended solids in the final effluent.  
• Based on the permit limits and compliance with those limits, it is highly unlikely that the treated sewage discharge is sufficient to result in dissolved oxygen and sediment levels in the Upper Costa Beck to be at a level to impact fish.   
• The permit has previously been reviewed by the Environment Agency specifically focussing on phosphate limits. The review concluded that the conditions on the permit are sufficient to achieve the water body objective and protect the environment. 
• An Urban Pollution Management (UPM) study carried out by Yorkshire Water to investigate the impact of the discharges from Pickering WWTWs on Upper Costa Beck which looked at the works as a whole (including continuous and intermittent discharges) concluded the WWTWs did not compromise compliance with the Fundamental Intermittent Standards for a Salmonid Fishery. The study concluded that the WWTW is not having an impact on the water quality levels to an extent which would impact on fish.  

UPM studies are carried out to a standard agreed by both the Environment Agency and the Water Industry and are used for assessing the impact of intermittent discharges. A UPM study is a prerequisite to using regulatory action to require tighter permit limits for intermittent discharges. The UPM study for Pickering WWTW was reviewed and signed off by a technical expert within the Environment Agency. The Environment Agency currently has no other evidence to justify retaining RNAGs associated with either continuous or intermittent sewage discharges from Pickering WWTW. 

In their consultation response, Pickering Fishery Association referred to a report written by a former sewage works manager and inspector which they sent to the Environment Agency in 2023. The Environment Agency reviewed the report, and its contents were considered during subsequent regulation activities undertaken at Pickering WWTW. The Environment Agency was only able to use the report as intelligence and could not take any enforcement action based on its findings as no authorised Environment Agency Officer was present during the author’s site visit to verify any potential permit breaches.  

The Environment Agency will continue to carry out inspections of Pickering WWTW to check compliance with its environmental permit.  

As part of the Environment Agency’s Water Industry Transformation Programme, Yorkshire Area has recently recruited 26 new staff, including a Regulatory Manager for the water industry. The Environment Agency will also be recruiting additional Water Industry Enforcement Officers and Specialists across the north of England by end of March 2025. This new resource will enable better use of available evidence to target effort, including enhanced enforcement of environmental permits, driving improvements in water company performance. 

The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan sets specific targets for water companies, regulators and the government, to work towards the long-term ambition of eliminating the harm from storm overflows. Pickering WWTW storm overflow is listed in the programme, but as the UPM study demonstrated that the Pickering WWTW is not having an environmental impact, it is not a high priority for improvement action.  

4.5 Sediment in Upper Costa Beck 

Several consultees agreed that excess sediment is an issue in Upper Costa Beck, although there were varying views on the sources of the sediment. 

Agricultural sources of sediment 

During the consultation period a preliminary geomorphology report was completed by Environment Agency geomorphologists. This report cited agriculture as one of the primary sources of fine sediments in the Upper Costa Beck. After further considering the available evidence, the Environment Agency has increased confidence that agricultural activity in the catchment is a source of the excess sediment and have therefore increased the certainty of the relevant RNAG from ‘suspected’ to ‘probable’.  

As a result, additional measures have been added to the proposed programme of measures for Upper Costa Beck: 

• Dedicated agricultural officers targeting farms in the catchment. Environment Agency inspections coinciding with visits from partners in Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) who can provide advice and guidance on available funding. CSF is a partnership between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency and Natural England. The partnership works to enable farmers to take action to improve the environment and their farm business. 
• Ongoing regulatory work with high priority farms in the Upper Costa Beck catchment, using government funding made available to increase the number of targeted farm inspections and improve compliance. Regulatory work focuses on bringing farms into compliance with the Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Diffuse Pollution Regulations 2018 (Farming Rules for Water), the Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil Regulations 2010, the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2015, the Water Resources Act 1991 and the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 where applicable.  

Fish farm as a source of sediment 

Several responses noted that although the RNAG relating to sediment from one of the fish farms in the catchment was ‘confirmed’, the programme of measures did not propose any enforcement or other regulatory action, including changes to the conditions in the current environmental permit.  

The apportionment of sediment to different sources in the Upper Costa Beck catchment remains unclear, including the specific contribution of the Willowdene fish farm. The RNAG has been left as ‘confirmed’ until further work is undertaken over the next 6 months to clarify the contribution of the fish farm to the sediment loads in the catchment.  

The environmental permit for Willowdene fish farm was varied and consolidated in 2016, this variation updating the permit into modern conditions. The point source emission limits were reviewed during this variation to ensure they are stringent enough to protect the environment. There have been a number of minor breaches of Willowdene’s environmental permit since 2016, the majority of which were classed as ‘no impact’ and the remainder as ‘minor impact’. The Environment Agency continues to work with the operators to ensure compliance.  

The Environment Agency will undertake a review of its enforcement action regarding compliance with the environmental permit by Willowdene fish farm. 

The Environment Agency is also exploring how it can develop a better understanding of the sources of the sediments entering and moving within the Upper Costa Beck catchment.  

4.6 Gauging weir as barrier to fish movement 

Some responses referred to the potential barrier to fish movement posed by the Environment Agency’s gauging weir in the catchment. The Environment Agency believes that during high base flows it will not be a barrier at all, but in low flows it will prevent free passage of some species. Further work is required to determine the extent to which the gauging weir is impacting on fish populations and, if so, what the appropriate solution will be.  

4.7 The role of channel management in tackling water quality and eutrophication problems 

Vale of Pickering Internal Drainage Board suggested that effective channel management can help to manage water quality issues. The Environment Agency will assess current channel management in Upper Costa Beck. The Environment Agency is interested in working with Vale of Pickering Internal Drainage Board to review and, where necessary, update current practices over the next 12 to 24 months, drawing on the Board’s knowledge and experience from other locations, notably the River Hertford.  

5. Next steps

The Environment Agency thanks all those who responded to the consultation on updating the programme of measures for Upper Costa Beck.

The Environment Agency has carefully considered the responses in developing the proposed updated programme of measures which were approved by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 2 September 2024.

The Environment Agency will continue to review the evidence to understand what, if any, additional actions may be required in Upper Costa Beck to secure compliance with the environmental objectives for the water body. 

When ongoing river basin planning work identifies sufficient evidence that additional on-the-ground, site-specific regulatory action is required to meet the environmental objectives for Upper Costa Beck, the Environment Agency will implement those actions.