内容摘要：Under new restrictions to protect rivers due to climate change, legislation means licences were now required to limit the amount of water that could be taken from the River Usk.

Under new restrictions to protect rivers due to climate change, legislation means licences were now required to limit the amount of water that could be taken from the River Usk.

The government has set up an independent commission to review how the sector is run and regulated, which is expected to publish its findings by July.A council leader has said an investigation into a cyanide spill in Walsall Canal cannot result in just "measly words".

Leader of Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council Garry Perry said the ongoing Environment Agency (EA) probe of events at Anachrome Ltd, the firm to which the spill was traced, needed to lead to a comprehensive conclusion."We always talk about lessons being learnt but they are only learnt if actions are taken that are meaningful to prevent it happening again," he said.His comments came after

in early April to remove silt contaminated with cyanide at the bottom of a one-mile stretch of the canal network.About 4,000 litres (879 gallons) of the toxic chemical were released into a 12-mile (19km) stretch of the canal on 12 August 2024, the

Parts of the canal from Walsall locks to the lock flights at Rushall/Ryders Green and Perry Barr in Birmingham have since reopened, but a one-mile stretch of the canal in the Pleck area of Walsall borough remains shut.

The dredging work by the Canal & River Trust (CRT), which has spent £500,000 on the clean-up, will take several weeks before the sediment and water is re-tested, with a view to lifting the closure.A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities said it would "continue to work with" the council "closely”.

. Instead, what happens if a council cannot balance its budget, is that its finance officer issues what is known as a Section 114 notice.This prevents the council from carrying out any new spending until it can balance its books again. It can mean councils then have to make cuts to non-statutory services to find savings.

Councils are required by law to produce a balanced budget and Havering, like other local authorities, has until early March to do that.Mr Morgon said the added spending pressures Havering had faced around social care and housing costs had made the financial situation more difficult.