Consultation on the New Forest river basin catchment

We specifically asked about:

• Our Strategic Environmental Assessment Scoping Report
• Our selection of wastewater systems to take forward into the Options Development and Appraisal stage of the DWMP in the first cycle, and
• Our developing plans on each of the 11 river basin catchments.

Our report on the initial DWMP consultation is now available.

When we consulted on the developing plans for the New Forest river basin catchment you told us that the key issues we needed to take into consideration were:

• Freshwater and coastal habitats must be protected and restored, and conserving and enhancing wildlife, sites and nature recovery must be supported.
• The cumulative impacts of nutrient sources from wastewater discharges causes environmental harm and therefore addressing only the most polluting is not enough to resolve the issues. They all discharge to the Solent.
• Significant areas of the New Forest are covered by national and international nature conservation designations highlighting the importance of prioritising the protection of wetlands and water dependent habitats.
• Timescales and resources may make it challenging to have cross wastewater catchment collaborations.
• The impact of seasonal ingress is significant on water quality and should be monitored.
• Monitoring of the WFD and designated sites status is of necessity not up-to-date and therefore a precautionary approach should always be taken.

How we responded to the issues raised during the workshops and the preliminary public consultation is set out in our Register of Stakeholder Comments.

We held a full 12 week public consultation on the draft Regional (Level 1) DWMP between Monday 13 June and Monday 05 September 2022. Our Statement of Response to the issues raised is published on the home page of our website, and a report and analysis on the consultation is published on the Have your say page.