The Environment Agency (EA) has recruited two new Water Industry Regulation teams who are increasing regulation of water company sites in Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, undertaking more compliance checks (including unannounced inspections), translating storm overflow monitoring data into regulatory intelligence, and increasing enforcement actions for pollution incidents under the Enforcement and Sanctions policy. Inspection locations are prioritised according to environmental sensitivity, such as sites impacting bathing waters, and where EDM data is showing spills are higher than they should be. The Environment Agency increased inspections in 2024-25 and will more than double these in 2025-2026. This includes water company assets in Newton Abbot constituency. It will also attend more incidents.

The EA has also increased the number of farm inspections they are able to deliver and are helping to support the transition to a more sustainable and healthy farming industry. In Devon and Cornwall, dedicated farm inspection officers are currently inspecting farms and undertaking enforcement action in the highest priority catchments including the River Otter and Exe.

The Environment Agency made an assessment of risk as part of the Exe Estuary FCERM Strategy 2014, collaborating with stakeholders including the public. It identified that Dawlish Warren affects the FCERM (Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management) of the wider estuary and that existing defences were unsustainable. The Strategy also identified that improvements were needed in Exmouth and Starcross, which have been delivered.

The 2017 Dawlish Warren Beach Management Scheme included new defences, beach recharge, groyne works, and the removal of relic gabion (Rock) baskets. To enable natural evolution, a planning condition identified that remaining groyne, geotube and relic gabion defences be removed by 2049.

Habitat creation schemes in the Exe were not delivered as they were deemed either not acceptable or uneconomic, but schemes have since been delivered in the Otter estuary. Works to deliver improvements at Powderham and Topsham are ongoing.

The future management of Dawlish Warren will be confirmed as part of an update to the current Strategy by 2028. Stakeholder and community engagement is planned from 2026. This update will review the current Strategy, re-assessing the risk and improvements required to protect communities, infrastructure and the environment over the next 100 years following updated Government guidance.

The Secretary of State recently met with water company bosses, including South West Water, to make it clear that water firms will be held accountable for their performance for customers and the environment. During the meeting, water bosses signed up to the Government’s initial package of reforms to reduce sewage pollution and attract investment to upgrade infrastructure.

The Government also announced a new Water (Special Measures) Bill, which will turn around the performance of water companies, in the King’s Speech. The Bill will strengthen regulation, give the water regulator new powers to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met and increase accountability for water executives. These are the first critical steps in enabling a long-term and transformative reset of the entire water sector.

I would refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by the Secretary of State on 18 July: Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament

This government is committed to tackling pollution. The Water (Special Measures) Bill, announced during the King’s Speech, delivers on our manifesto commitment to put water companies under tough special measures and begin the work of cleaning up our waterways.

Water quality assessments are underpinned by Environment Agency monitoring programmes, focussing upon a broad range of biological, chemical and physico-chemical parameters. Monitoring and assessment are undertaken throughout the River Exe catchment, from the headwaters on Exmoor, to the bathing waters at Exmouth and Dawlish Warren. Water quality data is publicly available via Ecology and Fish Data Explorer and Open WIMS. These data are assessed against standards set under the Water Environment Regulations (WER) and Bathing Water Regulations, and are published on Catchment Data Explorer.

In the River Exe catchment, there are 27 waterbodies. Of these, 10 are at good ecological status (under WER), 16 at moderate status and one at poor status. This equates to 37% of waterbodies in the River Exe catchment achieving good or higher status, compared to 16% nationally. Bathing waters at Exmouth and Dawlish Warren received a classification of ‘Excellent’ in 2023.

I would refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by the Secretary of State on 18 July: Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament

The Secretary of State recently met with water company bosses, including South West Water, to make it clear that water firms will be held accountable for their performance for customers and the environment. During the meeting, water bosses signed up to the Government’s initial package of reforms to reduce sewage pollution and attract investment to upgrade infrastructure.

The Government also announced a new Water (Special Measures) Bill, which will turn around the performance of water companies, in the King’s Speech. The Bill will strengthen regulation, give the water regulator new powers to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met and increase accountability for water executives. These are the first critical steps in enabling a long-term and transformative reset of the entire water sector.

I would refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by the Secretary of State on 18 July: Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament

The Environment Agency (EA) agreed in 2014, following flooding of the railway line in 2012 and 2013/14, to assist Network Rail in finding a technically appropriate solution to the problem, whilst ensuring that it does not conflict with the £30 million investment in new flood defences in Exeter.

The EA has had regular meetings with Network Rail to provide advice on its culvert installation and weir removal works at Cowley Bridge. The EA has also been working with Network Rail since November 2017 to advise on the flood risk modelling for its weir removal proposals. This includes the EA providing flood history information, geomorphology commentary and examples of issues experienced in other local weir removal projects.

The EA has also established a team to assist Network Rail with the technical and permitting requirements of both phases of its works at Cowley Bridge, and has accelerated the issuing of permits for the culvert works.

Network Rail’s modelling is expected to be completed in spring 2018 and on completion the EA will provide feedback on the outputs. This is to ensure that Network Rail’s proposals do not increase flood risk to residential properties or adversely impact on the level of protection provided by new flood defences in Exeter. The EA will prioritise this work to ensure a timely response to Network Rail.

Although flood risk models have been available for discrete areas around Exeter and the Cowley Bridge location since 2005, no single model takes account of the whole system or all watercourses. The EA is working with Network Rail to ensure its latest modelling is comprehensive. In the interim there is a flood warning system for Cowley Bridge. This has been in place since 2012, with improvements to the forecasting model introduced in November 2017.

The Environment Agency (EA) has been aiding Network Rail and their consultants on producing a flood and geomorphology risk assessment on the proposal to remove the three weirs near Cowley Bridge.

The EA has provided all the local flood history, river flow and river state data that it has, and the required specification and scenarios that any modelling results must produce.

Once this report is submitted, the EA will assess the impact on third parties and the environment in terms of flood risk and environmental impacts. The EA will also assess the impact, if any, on the new flood defence scheme currently being built in Exeter.

The EA recently issued flood risk activity permits for the Network Rail improvement to the flood culvert under the railway upstream of Cowley Bridge. The culvert works are expected to be completed during summer 2018 and will reduce flood risk to the railway.

The removal of weirs in the River Exe is not part of the Environment Agency’s scheme to better protect the communities in the city of Exeter from flooding.

The option of removal of the three weirs at Exwick, Cowley and Pynes is being examined by Network Rail as the last stage of its work to help protect the railway at Cowley Bridge Junction (just north of Exeter) from flooding from the rivers Exe, Culm and Creedy. Subject to a detailed assessment of the impact of such a scheme of the wider area to be carried out by Network Rail, consent from the Environment Agency and funding availability, a weir scheme could follow on from work to widen and improve the existing flood culvert during 2017 and install an additional culvert in 2018.

Cowley Bridge Junction (on the railway to the immediate north of Exeter) was closed for two days from 21 to 23 November 2016 due to flooding from the Rivers Exe, Culm and Creedy.

Network Rail has already raised all of the lineside railway signal cabinets at the site which put them above the level of the recent flood, significantly reducing train service restitution times after the incident. They advise that more work is planned, including widening and improvement of the existing flood culvert during 2017 and installation of an additional culvert in 2018.

Network Rail has allocated £13.4million from the geo-environmental resilience programme. Their preferred option involves the removal of three weirs close to Stafford's bridge and Cowley bridge.

The Environment Agency are not providing financial assistance with the scheme, but support the scheme as it complements their Exeter Flood defence scheme and their general approach of returning rivers to their natural states.

Over the coming months, Network Rail will work with the Environment Agency to work out how they deliver the scheme collaboratively.