HADLEIGH & DISTRICT ANGLING SOCIETY

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Members Update

February 28, 2023

Public’s ‘right to know’ about water company pollution under threat – please help Fish Legal  

Hello,

I am writing to you to ask for your help as a club member of Fish Legal.

In 2015, Fish Legal won a landmark legal case that secured a right for the public to access environmental information directly from privatised water companies in England and Wales.  

It was a hard-won right secured after a 6-year legal battle against the combined might of United Utilities, Yorkshire Water, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Government, who joined with the water companies in the action.

The right has been critical in exposing water company abuses.  

But this right is under threat.

What is happening?

The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 are on a list of legislation that Defra is considering scrapping as part of a Government Bill currently progressing through Parliament.

If the regulations and the case law disappear, privatised water companies can go back to polluting under a veil of secrecy.

How can you help?

1.  We want to show how many angling clubs and fishery members want to stop their right to information about water company pollution and abstraction being taken away.  Could we ADD YOUR CLUB’S NAME to the list that we will publish?  Please reply to this email with either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ with your club’s name in the header.

2.    We want to force a debate in Parliament.  Please SHARE this link AND ask your club members to SIGN to protect the regulations:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/633609

3.    We are asking our members to SUPPORT FISH LEGAL in this campaign here:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/protect-public-right-to-environmental-information

It is important that we act now.  It is not about what we have to gain, but what we have to lose.

Thank you for your help.

Penny

Penelope Gane
Head of Practice
Fish Legal

 

Fish Legal is a membership association using the law to protect fish stocks and the rights of its members throughout the UK. It is united in a collaborative relationship with the Angling Trust, the national representative and governing body for angling in England. Joint membership packages with the Angling Trust are available for individuals, clubs, fisheries and other categories.

Click here for more information about membership

Angling Trust & Fish Legal, Eastwood House, Rainbow Street, Leominster, HR6 8DQ

Telephone: 01568 620447

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