The Environment Agency has officially declared a drought in the north west of England following the driest start to spring in 69 years.
It comes after river flows and groundwater levels have been declining due to the dry March, April, and start of May, and now reservoir storage levels in the region are also receding too, meaning at this moment in time, they’re currently lower than they were during the famous drought years of 1984, 1995, and 2022.
According to the Environment Agency (EA), a decision to declare drought is taken based on reservoir levels, river flows, and moisture in the soil, along with taking into consideration weather forecasts on a long-term basis.
Declaring drought status enables the EA to ‘plan, deliver, and manage’ actions in drought plans.
The Environment Agency has officially declared a drought in north west England / Credit: Pxhere
However, there is no single definition for drought, the EA admits, so while it’s a given that it’s caused by a period of low rainfall, the nature, timing, and impacts on people, the environment, agriculture, or business will vary.
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Some droughts are short and intense, while others are long and take time to develop over multiple seasons.
Although there has been some welcome rain across the North West in recent days, the EA says this is ‘not enough to reverse the dry start to the year’ and is definitely not enough to cover the expected hotter weather in the coming weeks, which it believes is only set to ‘exacerbate’ the situation.
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The decision by the EA to move the region into drought status means the regulator will increase its operational response throughout the summer.
It follows what has been the driest start to spring for the region in 69 years / Credit: David Dixon (via Geograph)
This will be all while ensuring that water company United Utilities steps up the actions agreed in its drought plans – including fixing leaks, communicating with customers and supporting them to reduce demand, and submitting drought permits to take more water, as and where needed.
According to the EA, if these actions are taken in a ‘timely manner’ will help preserve supplies for people and the environment.
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“Drought is a naturally occurring phenomenon,” explained Andy Brown, who is the Water Regulation Manager at the Environment Agency. “As we see more impacts from climate change, heavier rainfall and drier summers will become more frequent and this poses an enormous challenge over the next few decades.
“Despite the rain over the weekend levels remain low and we are encouraging people to be aware of the impacts of drought as we enter the summer period.
“With further unsettled periods and rainfall over the coming weeks we will continue to closely monitor the situation and implement our Drought Plan.”
Plans unveiled to deliver 50,000 council and ‘genuinely affordable’ homes in Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Plans to deliver 50,000 council and ‘genuinely affordable’ homes in Greater Manchester have been unveiled.
By removing ‘blockers’ to development and transforming disused public land into new housing schemes, Greater Manchester Mayor Bev Craig has set out her plan to tackle the housing crisis and deliver ‘a new generation’ of homes – with 50,000 new ‘genuinely affordable’ homes to be available across the city region by 2039.
It’s expected that 10,000 of these homes will either be built, on site, or in the pipeline with planning permission ready to go by May 2028.
To meet the scale of this ambition and deliver the homes the region needs, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) says it will need to ‘pull every lever at [its] disposal’, from remediating brownfield land, to bringing forward dormant sites in public ownership.
That’s why the Mayor will be asking Greater Manchester‘s public bodies to carry out a public land review and identify sites that could be brought forward to deliver homes.
GMCA has already used its Brownfield Housing Fund to support several schemes that are delivering thousands of affordable homes – including social rent homes – as part of the £2 billion Good Growth Fund.
If you’re unfamiliar, the Good Growth Fund is investing in a pipeline of projects to deliver new homes, regenerate town centres, create jobs, and build infrastructure to connect people and places.
“When I was Manchester City Council Leader, I built more council and social homes than Manchester had built in 25 years,” Bev Craig declared. “But we need to go further and faster in every bit of Greater Manchester.
“We will be leading by example when it comes to freeing up disused and dormant public land for development and I’m calling on other Government bodies to join us.
“I know first-hand the security that a Council house brings, and that’s why I am absolutely committed to delivering the Council and social homes that people here in Greater Manchester need, so everyone can have the foundation of a good life in our city region.”
Currently, land supply for 78,585 new homes of all tenures up to 2030 has been identified.
Greater Manchester is in line to receive an initial £1.8 billion from the Government’s Social and Affordable Homes Programme, and the Mayor will meet with Government in the coming weeks to set out joint plans to achieve these ambitions.
Featured Image – Benjamin Elliott (via Unsplash)
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Government sets out multi-million-pound plan to move UK away from animal testing in science
Emily Sergeant
A £22m push to ramp up the UK’s move away from animal testing in science is set to bring together cutting-edge tech and research.
The latest figures show there were 2.54 million animal testing procedures in Great Britain in 2025, which is down 3.8% on 2024, but with a further update due to be released later this year, the Government is now moving to ‘capitalise’ on that momentum with funding to shift the nation onto alternative testing options.
A dedicated national research hub and nine new high-tech projects are planned to develop ‘better ways’ to test medicines on human biology rather than animals.
According to the Government, this means treatments for conditions like cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) could be developed ‘faster’ and ‘more precisely’ to not only help patients but crucially also move science away from traditional animal testing.
At the heart of the plans is a new Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub – based in Cambridge and backed by £20 million in Government funding, which will work to build and share models of human tissue, grown from NHS patients, to test new treatments.
The new hub will accelerate the development of testing on ‘organoids’ – tiny, simplified versions of a human gut, tumour or brain, using cells donated by patients.
From beating heart cells in a dish to AI that can predict how drugs move through the body, exciting alternatives to animal testing are transforming medical research.
We're investing £22m to help scientists develop the next generation of life-saving treatments. pic.twitter.com/1EWRQvwySa
— Dept. for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (@biztradegovuk) August 12, 2026
Because these ‘organoids’ retain crucial features of a patient’s own biology, they will help researchers learn how a real person may respond to a drug and provide additional insights that can complement information that is currently obtained from animals.
Scientists will then be able to use these cutting-edge techniques in their own labs to work out which medicines are worth pursuing.
Overall, it’s hoped that the move will slash the time it takes to get ‘potentially life-changing’ treatments to market.
Alongside the funding for the new Hub, nine cutting-edge projects aimed at identifying new methods of animal-free scientific testing – from beating heart cells in a dish, to lab-grown human ear models, and AI that predicts how medicines move through the body – are being funded.
Sadly, many of these still rely on testing on dogs and monkeys, as it stands.
“This marks another significant step forward in the UK’s move away from animal testing in science and research,” commented Science Minister Chris McDonald.
“This is all about backing our world-leading researchers and innovators to improve lives, giving them the tools they need to deliver more effective treatments for horrendous diseases like cancer, while also preventing the need for animal testing wherever possible.
“It’s also a boost for our life sciences sector, fuelling opportunities for new investment and new jobs, and ensuring Britain is better off.”
Emily Sergeant -
30th May 2025 
