THE headline ‘Rishi Sunak backs Save Our Swale campaign in Richmond’ appeared in The Northern Echo on July 14, 2023.

That was welcome news for the residents of Richmond who had gathered earlier that week to support a campaign to save the River Swale from the levels of pollution it has been experiencing.

Then on August 29, we learn that the same Mr Sunak is to support a change in the law to allow thousands of new river polluting homes to be built in the UK and worry about sewage processing infrastructure to support these homes being in place later.

The developers of these new homes won’t now be required to pay into the Natural England’s nutrient neutrality mitigation scheme as originally proposed they should.

The government committed to protecting our rivers and now it is backtracking on that promise.

Instead of allowing housebuilders to cut corners, Mr Sunak and his government should have made sure we have the right infrastructure in place to handle our sewage so we can build new homes without sacrificing the health of our rivers.

Is this a case of Mr Sunak, saying one thing and doing another?

Sally Anderson, Brompton.