There was an article in the Guardian newspaper on July 19th 2025 that brought some hope to the team at Stormwater Shepherds. The article explained that “The commitment by Steve Reed, the environment secretary, aims to highlight that, while sewage spills into waterways are a significant source of public concern, runoff from farms and roads also makes up a critical part of the pollutants going into rivers and other bodies of water.”
The article also acknowledges that “nearly 20% of water bodies saw pollutants from roads and transport, including oil, chemicals and the residues from tyre and brake wear, a problem made worse by heavy rain.”
This government recognition of pollution from highway runoff is new, and we hope that it is, in some small part, a result of our continued pressure and our persistent sharing of evidence to show the extent of this pollution.
At the same time, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is passing through Parliament at the moment, and Part 1 of the Bill will lessen the consultation stages for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, and that risks the construction of new road schemes without the proper interrogation of their pollution prevention schemes.
So, we have taken one giant leap forward with the recognition of pollution from highway runoff, but we risk taking 2 steps backward with the weakening of the planning process.
It will be very interesting to see how things unfold over the next few months, but you can rest assured that the team here at Stormwater Shepherds will be watching closely to make sure that pollution from highway runoff is effectively controlled in years to come so that our rivers can recover from decades of harm.
