A wealthy landowner has been fined £28,000 for taking too much water from a rare chalk stream during a drought.
The Environment Agency said the Ilchester Estate in Dorset “deliberately flouted” the conditions of its licence to abstract water from a spring on the headwaters for the chalk stream Dorset Frome at Evershot.
The estate belongs to Charlotte Townshend, who owns thousands of acres in the county and was listed at 287 in the 2024 Sunday Times Rich List thanks to her inherited wealth, with her fortune now estimated at around £489 million.
It has a licence costing £120 a year to abstract water to supply its houses, offices, gardens and farms from the Dorset Frome, setting its own charges for supplying the water to businesses and residents on the estate.
But an investigation by the regulator found that, between December 2022 and July 2023, when the area was officially in drought, the estate exceeded the limit for abstraction by nearly 7,500 cubic metres – around three Olympic swimming pools’ worth of water.
The Ilchester Estate not only deliberately flouted the conditions, they did so during a drought, when it is likely that damage will have been done to the river
It has now paid a penalty of £19,777.69 plus costs of £8,298.60 to the Environment Agency, after previously being warned to stop over-abstracting water.
The estate was advised in 2018 how it could apply for an increase in its permitted abstraction levels, but said steps would be taken to reduce the amount of water being used.
But it continued to take water above the permitted level each year through to 2023, the Environment Agency said.
The Dorset Frome is one of only 200 chalk streams in the world, the vast majority of which are in the UK and provide a unique habitat for wildlife as well as mineral-rich pure water.
Chalk streams are a threatened habitat, hit by over-abstraction and climate change reducing the amount of water in them, while pollution and invasive species are also damaging the waterways and the native wildlife that rely on them.
Carolyn Lane, senior environment officer for the Environment Agency, said: “Chalk streams are stunningly beautiful, but ecologically sensitive, watercourses. Where companies or individuals hold licences to take water from them, they cannot ignore the conditions attached and take as much water as they like.
“In this case, the Ilchester Estate not only deliberately flouted the conditions, they did so during a drought, when it is likely that damage will have been done to the river and the surrounding environment it supports.”
In a statement, the estate said: “Ilchester Estates very much regrets the historic breach of its water extraction licence.
“Since this has taken place, the estate has invested in its water infrastructure in order to reduce the amount of leaks and to monitor abstraction now on a daily basis.
“The estate remains committed to the protection and enhancement of the diverse natural environment under its management.”
