Published: 08:00, 21 August 2026

The government has its “head in the sand” over the crisis affecting our internationally-important chalk streams, according to Pippa Heylings.

The Liberal Democrat MP for South Cambridgeshire visited seven chalk streams across the constituency on Monday to see at first hand the toll that abstraction, sewage discharge, prolonged dry weather and climate change are taking on these globally rare river ecosystems.

Pippa Heylings MP visits Hawk Mill Farm and walks along the bed of what should be the Little Wilbraham River with Ruth Hawksley, water for wildlife officer at the Wildlife Trust, and David Lomas, Wilbraham River Protection Society member. Picture: Keith Heppell

Volunteers and river action groups joined the MP to share their knowledge of the pressures the chalk streams are facing.

Some are running completely dry - while others are only running with the aid of pumped and treated water, the MP learned.

Afterwards, the MP said: “Today I’ve seen seven chalk streams, and it’s the same story again and again: rivers running dry, or only kept flowing by artificial pumping of water.

“These are some the rarest habitats on the planet, and we are allowing them to disappear beneath our feet. I’ve met the volunteers who have been warning about this for years, and they were right.

Pippa Heylings MP with Ruth Hawksley, water for wildlife officer at the Wildlife Trust, and David Lomas, of Wilbraham River Protection Society. Picture: Keith Heppell

“Water has to be treated as a deal-breaker for growth, not an afterthought, and I will keep pressing ministers and water companies until our chalk streams get the protection they deserve.”

England is home to 85 per cent of the world’s chalk streams and the Cambridge region is renowned for them. The MP visited Cherry Hinton Brook, the Wilbraham River, the River Granta, the River Cam, the River Mel, the River Rhee and the Orwell Brook, accompanied by Ruth Hawksley and Matt Day from Beds, Cambs and Northants Wildlife Trust.

In this region, abstraction from the Cam and Ely Ouse chalk aquifer supplies almost all the drinking water. This has lowered water tables across the region, contributing to the low flows in the streams, which impact the ecosystem of plants and animals that rely on them.

Campaigners say recent restoration work on the River Rhee at the Mill River Nature Reserve has demonstrated what can be done, but river groups say investment in water capacity is essential.

Pippa Heylings MP visits Hawk Mill Farm and walks along the bed of what should be the Little Wilbraham River with Ruth Hawksley, water for wildlife officer at the Wildlife Trust, with David Lomas, Wilbraham River Protection Society member. Picture: Keith Heppell

A new 28km pipeline is being built by Anglian Water and Cambridge Water to bring water from Grafham to Cambridge – the first stage of a 70km pipeline that will run on from Cambridge to Rede, serving west Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.

Plans are also progressing for a Fens reservoir near Chatteris, but it will not be operational for another decade.

Ms Heylings, the Liberal Democrats' energy security and net zero spokesperson, has introduced the Chalk Streams (UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site) Bill in Parliament, calling on the government to nominate the precious ecosystem for this protected status.

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