River Itchen, with aquatic plants reflected in the surface.
England: Hampshire, Ovington, May - Linda Pitkin/2020VISION
Save our Chalk Streams
Thanks to those of you who took action to back our Save Our Chalk Streams campaign, wrote to your MPs and helped to raise awareness of the importance of our precious chalk streams, the importance of chalk streams has begun to be recognised.
For the first time, chalk streams have been mentioned in the draft of England's National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the overarching framework that sets out the Government’s planning policies for England. The NPPF covers topics such as sustainable development, plan-making and decision-making.
Disappointingly, these mentions fall short of delivering on the Government’s promise of “explicit recognition”. The draft lacks the detail and strength needed to properly protect chalk streams and leaves our chalk streams are still under threat. With the Government currently running a consultation on the NPPF, we have created a simple way for supporters of our Save Our Chalk Stream campaign to submit a response, calling on chalk streams to be added to the irreplaceable habitats list in the National Planning Policy Framework.
With your help, we can secure urgent, specific protections for our precious unique chalk streams as irreplaceable habitat and protect them from development-related harm.
Save our Chalk Streams
Chalk streams are an internationally and locally rare habitat found within London. A chalk river or stream which flows across or is influenced by chalk bedrock, there are only around 35 chalk rivers between 20 to 90 km long in the whole of the UK.
Currently, only 11 out of 220 British chalk streams have any legal protections, and even these fall short of the measures needed to defend these rivers. The Government have a valuable opportunity to stand up for our chalk streams. We are calling on them to introduce specific legal protections in planning for all of our chalk streams, to protect them from development-related harm.
Our chalk streams need protecting
England's chalk streams' crystal-clear waters are home for salmon, water voles, white-clawed crayfish and kingfishers, making them our equivalent to the Great Barrier Reef or the Amazon Rainforest. A truly special habitat that we are so lucky to enjoy.
Yet many of our chalk stream rivers are now polluted, dirty and choked by pollution, threatening the wildlife that calls them home and the people that rely on them for their wellbeing. The Government must introduce specific protections for all chalk streams in their planning reforms, to ensure these unique habitats are conserved and put into recovery for future generations.
The River Wandle
The plight of our chalk streams has been brought into stark relief by the recent and devastating release of 4,000 litres of diesel into the river Wandle, a chalk stream home to wildlife such as brown trout and kingfishers.
Some of supporters may remember that as recently as January 2025 we promoted a suggested walk along the Wandle, sharing some of the wonderful wildlife sights to be found there, including kingfishers. Watch the video below to see the river prior to the disastrous diesel release:
Our key asks for Government
By granting chalk streams a better protection in planning, we can protect these unique rivers from the direct and indirect harms associated with new development. The Wildlife Trusts collectively are working in coalition to call on the Government to:
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Define chalk streams as irreplaceable habitats
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Introduce 50-100 metre buffer zones along the riparian corridor
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Mandate Local Planning Authorities to take account of implications for water resources and sewerage systems of major housing developments in their Local Plans and proposal reviews
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Raise standards for water efficiency within water-stressed chalk catchments to a minimum of 90 litres per person per day in new developments