South East England news

• Record-breaking heat and dry spring leave parts of England without water, reuters.com (May 29, 2026)
• Quarter of England at risk of water shortages (Mar 28, 2026) — less water in the system than planners are currently preparing for will have a knock-on effect on new housing developments
• What happens when the taps run dry? England is about to find out, Aditya Chakrabortty, theguardian.com (Jan 22, 2026)

• Local authorities across the South East have been given more than £133m to deliver cycling, wheeling and walking schemes, BBC News (Dec 10, 2025) — £25,924,411 allocated over a four-year period to Kent County Council
• From concrete walls to living edges, here’s how riverside habitats are being restored along the Thames, theconversation.com (Dec 08, 2025)
• Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown, theguardian.com (Nov 29, 2025) — Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implications
• England facing drastic measures due to extreme drought next year, theguardian.com (Nov 08, 2025) — Government and water companies are devising emergency plans for worst water shortage in decades. Comment: It surely then doesn't make sense to plan for and enable such a high proportion of new build in the most water stressed parts of England such as the South East?
• Legal challenge begins against Gatwick expansion, BBC News (Oct 15, 2025)
• Bottom trawling ban hailed by fishing groups, BBC News (Sep 29, 2025) — Fishing campaigners say a bottom trawling ban in West Sussex could be a "blueprint of success" for other parts of the South East
• South East hosepipe ban comes into force, BBC News (Jul 18, 2025)
• England’s water supply could run out in 20 years, MPs warn, independent.co.uk (Jul 10, 2025) — The report draws upon work by the National Audit Office (NAO), which warns parts of the south and southeast of England are at the highest risk of running dry in the next 20 years in its water supply and demand management report in June
• The 10 areas across east and south-east England where housing targets will be 'undeliverable' due to a shortage of water reserves, inews.co.uk (Mar 08, 2025) — Water scarcity issues are less acute further north, in areas such as Yorkshire, Northumberland, Cumbria and Lancashire – as well as in Wales and Scotland

• Sale of Essex acid grassland for homes would set ‘catastrophic precedent’, theguardian.com (Oct 19, 2024) — Idea that every habitat is replaceable is a misuse of biodiversity net gain, say ecological experts

• Our 24-hour climate comic explores what a sustainable future could look like, theconversation.com (Sep 20, 2024)
• The neighbourhood of East Malling, West Malling & Trottiscliffe, in the constituency of Maidstone and Malling, is one of the one in four neighbourhoods across England that breach multiple nature pollution thresholds, friendsoftheearth.uk (Sep 03, 2024) — New research by Friends of the Earth shows 1 in 4 neighbourhoods classify as nature pollution hotspots. Pollution hotspots are areas where air, water, noise and light pollution levels all exceed safe thresholds for wildlife. Friends of the Earth is calling for the right to a healthy environment to be enshrined in a new Environmental Rights Act. The law would empower communities to hold regulators and public bodies to account to reduce the multiple layers of pollution affecting their areas to better protect wildlife and people.

• Backpack-wearing dogs enlisted to rewild urban nature reserve in Lewes, theguardian.com (Jul 26, 2024)
• Council in Surrey launching an action fund for projects which help tackle the impact of climate change, BBC News (Jul 13, 2024) — Elmbridge Borough Council say the fund is for projects that make a "tangible difference" to education around carbon emissions, biodiversity enhancement, and energy, water, and waste reduction

• ‘Give nature space and it will come back’: rewilding returns endangered species to UK’s south coast, theguardian.com (Jun 27, 2024)
• Horse Hill: Historic win as Supreme Court upholds landmark climate case, Sarah Finch, wealdactiongroup.org.uk (Jun 20, 2024) — Surrey County Council acted unlawfully by giving planning permission for oil production at Horse Hill in the Surrey countryside without considering the climate impacts of when the oil is inevitably burned, the Supreme Court has ruled today.

• Five ways community is at the heart of Brighton Festival, positive.news (Apr 24, 2024)
• Resist The Devil We Know, Alternative Editorial (Apr 14, 2024)

• Why we need to change direction on building homes, sustrans.org.uk (Mar 10, 2024) — "Our report shows how better design and investment decisions – based on ‘gentle density’ and sustainable transport – can deliver the same number of homes on just 40% of the land."

• Oxfordshire housing development ‘should be blocked due to failing sewage system’, theguardian.com (Feb 27, 2024)
• ‘Does rewilding sort climate change? Yes!’: UK expert says nature can save planet and not harm farming, theguardian.com (Feb 25, 2024)

• Labour’s supposedly bold ‘new towns’ idea has been tried before. And it failed, Simon Jenkins, theguardian.com (Oct 12, 2023) — These vast sums should be spent improving our ‘second-tier’ cities – not on costly, carbon-guzzling developments in the rural south
• ‘Dead storage’ and ‘imminent risk to supplies’: documents reveal how England’s water companies struggled in last summer’s heatwaves, unearthed.greenpeace.org (Aug 23, 2023) — Internal briefings expose Environment Agency concerns that reservoir levels could drop so low the water would be untreatable and that companies might break the law
• Ministers accused of ‘environmental crime’ over South Downs oil drilling, theguardian.com (Aug 23, 2023)
• Over 25,000 oppose quarry extension into ancient wood, woodlandtrust.org.uk (Aug 02, 2023) — "Over 25,000 of you joined us in responding to the consultation on the shocking proposal."
• Oaken Wood: The largest destruction of ancient woodland this century, stuartjeffery.net (Jul 17, 2023)
• Kent and Sussex hosepipe ban announced amid water shortage, BBC News (Jun 19, 2023)

• The Tories are tearing themselves apart over housing – but this is another crisis of their own making, John Harris, The Guardian (Nov 27, 2022)
• How Sussex farmers plan to rewild a nature-rich green corridor to the sea, The Guardian (Jul 22, 2022)

• CPRE Kent supports county MPs in attack on 'inherently unreasonable' new housing targets^[1] Sep 13, 2020
• Gravesham residents form group to fight council's housing proposals, CPRE Kent^[2] Feb 10, 2020
• Six key issues Surrey County Council must address, Sarah Finch, Extinction Rebellion Reigate & Redhill^[3] Feb 3, 2020

References

In July 2019, Surrey County Council declared climate emergency. Two months later, they gave the go-ahead to plans for four more oil wells at Horse Hill, near Gatwick. To highlight the dangers of more oil drilling in a time of climate emergency, there will be a demonstration in October.^[1] Sep 16, 2019

• 'Filled to bursting with trees, woods and nature reserves': greening the Green Belt by Friends of the Earth Innovation team.^[2] Jun 12, 2019
• Green Belt: the development pressure ramps up again.^[3] Feb 4, 2019
• If we value rural Britain, we can't build houses all over it, Simon Jenkins, Aug 6, 2018...^[4]
• Households in southern England urged to save water after dry winter, May 5, 2017...^[5]

References