Water vole (credit: Terry Whittaker)
Save our chalk streams
The majority of the world’s chalk streams – around 85% – are found in England, and approximately 10% of these are found in Norfolk, which makes the county globally important for this rare habitat. Of the 220+ chalk streams found in England, only 11 of these have any legal protections.
Chalk rivers in Norfolk include the Rivers Bure, Glaven, Stiffkey, Burn, Heacham and Gaywood, but the longest, biggest and most significant is the River Wensum, which runs alongside Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Sweet Briar Marshes nature reserve and forms a vitally important corridor that helps wildlife to move through the county.
The Government has a valuable opportunity to stand up for our chalk streams in their planning policy reforms. We are calling on them to introduce specific legal protections in planning for all our chalk streams, to protect them from development-related harm.
Our chalk streams need protecting
England's chalk streams are one of the rarest habitats on earth! Their crystal-clear waters are home to water voles, white-clawed crayfish, Norfolk hawker dragonflies 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.
They are not just important in their own right, they are fabulous corridors for wildlife for creatures such as otters, birds, bats – helping these creatures to move through the landscape. Yet many of our chalk streams are now 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.
How can planning reform protect our chalk streams?
The Government is in the process of reviewing their National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is a set of planning policies, which informs the preparation of local plans and decisions on planning applications. Current measures fall far short of what is required to sufficiently protect chalk streams, especially from indirect pressures, such as pollution that occurs elsewhere in a river’s catchment, or abstraction to provide a water supply for new housing. Granting chalk streams better protections within this Framework and legally recognising how important they are will mean they are better protected when road or house building happens near them.
What is NWT doing?
We have sent a number of open letters, urging the government to strengthen protections for the UK’s chalk streams within planning policy.
February 2025
We contacted all of our Councillors in Norfolk, asking them to sign a powerful open letter to Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP and Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP:
November 2024
We signed an open letter to Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government The Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP:
We are also contacting and meeting with Norfolk MPs to encourage them to champion chalk streams in Government during the National Planning Policy Framework reviews. Within the Framework, we are calling for stronger protections for chalk streams as an irreplaceable habitat, and the introduction of 50-100 metre ‘no development’ buffers surrounding chalk streams and their catchments.
We are promoting the recognition of chalk rivers in Norfolk County Council's Local Nature Recovery Strategy and working with partners to develop projects to protect and restore Norfolk’s chalk rivers, particularly the Tas, which forms a wild corridor through the south Norfolk Claylands.
Brown trout (credit: Linda Pitkin)
Water vole © Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
Otter at the River Bure (credit: David Jackson)
©Jon Hawkins Surrey Hills Photography
We need your help to save our chalk streams!
Why not write to your local councillor or MP to share your concerns at this vital time? We’ve included some bullet points below with suggestions of the kind of things you might want to highlight. We’d recommend using your own words and emphasise how important these precious habitats are to you.
- The majority of the world’s chalk streams are found in England, and approximately 10% of these are found in Norfolk, which makes the county globally important for this rare habitat.
- Despite their ecological value, chalk streams are exceptionally vulnerable to pollution, over-abstraction, and habitat degradation.
- Water quality in chalk streams across the UK continues to worsen, with detrimental impacts for wildlife
- The opportunity of planning reforms should be used to designate chalk streams and their catchments with a bespoke protection.
- The Government should urgently clarify its plan for chalk streams by releasing an improved version of the previously promised ‘Chalk Stream Recovery Pack’. This action plan must be decisive and ambitious, outlining a specific designated protection for chalk streams, offering enhanced legal protections, strengthened enforcement mechanisms and immediate investment in restoration and conservation.
Learn more about chalk streams
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Alongside a group of UK nature charities, we have written to Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP and Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP calling for action to…
