A former 30-hectare golf course at Sandilands on the Lincolnshire coast has been converted by the National Trust into a wetland nature reserve after a six-year programme of planning, consultation and earthworks. Lead consultant Influence Landscape Planning & Design regraded fairways into a mosaic of wetlands, grassland and coastal scrub, with accessible boardwalks, trails and a new visitor hub including café, expanded car parking and changing place facilities. The reserve sits within Lincolnshire Coastal Country Park on the East Coast Flyway, targeting habitat gains for thousands of migratory birds.

England’s nine water and sewerage companies failed to report more than 50,000 sewage discharges within the legally required timeframe in the first half of 2026, according to campaign group Surfers Against Sewage. The missed notifications affect storm overflow and combined sewer outfall events that should trigger rapid incident reporting to regulators and local authorities. For drainage and wastewater engineers, the scale of under-reporting complicates network performance assessment, spill frequency analysis and the design of storage, screening and real-time control upgrades.

Most reservoirs in England are now at “notably” or “exceptionally” low storage levels after a sixth consecutive dry month, triggering government intervention and temporary drought measures to safeguard public supply. The Environment Agency has activated drought plans and is working with water companies on options including reduced abstraction from sensitive catchments and accelerated deployment of temporary use bans. Civil and water engineers should anticipate tighter operating constraints on raw water intakes, revised yield assumptions for treatment works, and potential fast‑tracked resilience schemes such as inter‑basin transfers and leakage reduction projects.