This week the Environment Secretary granted the application. It means the Environment Agency can ask Yorkshire Water to slow the flow of water leaving the reservoir to manage habitats and river flows to protect wildlife. The flow from the reservoir will reduce from 2million litres per day to 1million litres.

The order will have no impact on the public water supply as the Holme Styes Reservoir is a historic mill reservoir and not part of the public water infrastructure.

Victoria Slingsby, environment planning and engagement manager for the Environment Agency in Yorkshire, said:

We’re pleased the drought order request we submitted for Holme Styes reservoir has been approved, which means we can reduce the flow from the reservoir to protect habitats and wildlife. Without it, the reservoir could run dry and plants and animals that rely on it would die.

It’s an example of the action we are taking right across the country as the extreme temperatures increase the likelihood of local impacts and put pressure on the water environment and wildlife.

The Environment Agency declared prolonged dry weather in Yorkshire on 13 July.

Prolonged dry weather is a natural event which has become more likely with climate change. It occurs as a result of low rainfall for an extended period of time. Once prolonged dry weather is declared, actions are taken to minimise impacts on the environment.

Action is being taken by Government, Environment Agency, water companies, environmental and angling groups and farmers to manage the impacts. For example, the Environment Agency is responding to environmental risks and increasing fisheries incident response, as well as operating a large number of augmentation and water transfer schemes.

In Yorkshire, they have worked with holders of 128 abstraction licences to issue ‘hands off flow’ conditions, which means licence holders have been told that river levels are low and as a result abstraction must stop to protect the environment.

July recorded the fifth month in a row of below average long term average rainfall for Yorkshire, with most of Yorkshire’s rivers in below normal flow conditions.

The application involves the dualling of the single carriageway section of the A47 between Norwich and Dereham, linking together two existing sections of dual carriageway. The scheme will provide a new route to the south of Hockering and to the north of Honningham and include new junctions with locations yet to be determined.

The application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration by National Highways on 15 March 2021 and accepted for Examination on 12 April 2021.

Following an Examination during which the public, Statutory Consultees and Interested Parties were given the opportunity to give evidence to the Examining Authority, recommendations were made to the Secretary of State on 12 May 2022.

This is the 115th Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project and 42nd transport application to have been examined by The Planning Inspectorate within the timescales laid down in the Planning Act 2008.

The Planning Inspectorate’s Chief Executive, Sarah Richards said:

“The Planning Inspectorate has now examined more than 100 nationally significant infrastructure projects since the Planning Act 2008 process was introduced, ensuring local communities have had the opportunity of being involved in the examination of projects that may affect them.

“The Planning Inspectorate is committed to giving local communities the opportunity of being involved in the examination of projects that may affect them. Local people, the local authority and other interested parties were able to participate in the six-month long examination.

“The Examining Authority listened and gave full consideration to local views and the evidence gathered during the Examination before making its recommendation.”

The decision, the recommendation made by the Examining Authority to the Secretary of State and the evidence considered by the Examining Authority in reaching its recommendation are publicly available on the project pages of the National Infrastructure Planning website.

Journalists wanting further information should contact the Planning Inspectorate Press Office, on  0303 444 5004 or 0303 444 5005 or email: Press.office@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

Notes to editors:

The Planning Inspectorate’s National Infrastructure Programme of Projects details the proposals which are anticipated to be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate as applications in the coming months.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has appointed Graeme Biggar CBE as Director General of the National Crime Agency (NCA) to lead the fight against serious and organised crime and bring drug and people traffickers to justice.

Mr Biggar has led the NCA on an interim basis since October 2021. He has driven the UK’s firm response to cracking down on kleptocracy and illicit finance, as well as abhorrent child sexual abuse.

During this time, the NCA has delivered more disruptions and targeted an increasing proportion of those criminals causing the most harm. In the past year the NCA has:

• taken decisive action to crack down on people smugglers, resulting in the arrest of 244 offenders outside of the UK
• increased disruptions against modern slavery, protecting over 900 people
• seized around 250 tonnes of Class A drugs and dismantled eight global networks facilitating the supply of illegal firearms
• increased disruptions of fraud, including working with international partners to facilitate the recovery of proceeds of fraud for repatriation to victims across the world
• frozen more than £358 million of criminal assets
• led the implementation of a cross-law enforcement ransomware threat group, protecting the UK economy from losses of at least £600 million
• helped coordinate activity across local police forces against online child sexual abuse, which is seeing about 800 arrests or voluntary attendances, and around 1,000 children safeguarded or protected every month.

He will take on the role on a permanent basis, focusing on hunting ruthless cyber criminals and dismantling serious and organised crime groups peddling drugs and illegal firearms, and exploiting vulnerable people.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

Serious and organised crime, the gangs and violence bring misery to our streets. As well as exploiting children and the vulnerable, this criminality also costs more than £37 billion a year to our economy.

Going after the criminals who profit from human misery, abuse our children and citizens and show no regard for our borders and laws is what I and Graeme continue to drive.

From dismantling people smuggling networks through the biggest illegal migration law enforcement operation across Europe to bringing the monsters who sexually abuse children in the UK and abroad to justice, Graeme and his remarkable NCA team have an outstanding track record of delivery.

I have put the right resources and skills into the NCA, including increases to the Agency’s budget and additional resources to tackle new and emerging threats. The UK’s National Crime Agency is world leading and in a formidable position to tackle some of the most complex global threats we face and to help make our streets and our country safer.

Mr Biggar has now been appointed for a term of five years after a fair and open recruitment process. Mr Biggar has a wealth of experience, having served as Director General of the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) at the NCA between 2019 and 2021. He has also served as Director for National Security at the Home Office, Chief of Staff to the Defence Secretary and has held senior positions in the Ministry of Defence and other government departments.

He helped to shape the response to the 2017 terrorist attacks, the Salisbury poisoning attack, and as Director of National Security in the Home Office, oversaw implementation of the Investigatory Powers Act.

Graeme Biggar CBE, Director General of the NCA, said:

I am delighted to have been asked to lead the National Crime Agency. The Agency’s mission – to protect the public from serious and organised crime – has never been more important.

Serious and organised crime is chronic, corrosive and complex. The people and groups behind it have global reach, are technically sophisticated and digitally-enabled.

In response, the Agency must focus upstream, overseas and online – while continuing to work with our partners systematically to target criminals, bring them to justice and reduce the harm they cause.

It has been a privilege to lead our officers over the past ten months. I will continue to support them in protecting the public while ensuring we operate with the highest integrity and standards

As the head of the NCA, the Director General leads around 6,000 officers based in the UK and overseas. The DG determines the NCA’s operational priorities and ensures that the Agency is developing the right intelligence, delivering successful investigations and driving the overall UK law enforcement response to serious and organised crime.

Although the DG is accountable to the Home Secretary, the NCA is a non-ministerial department in its own right and is operationally independent from the Home Office.