Letters revealed under FoI laws show council asked environment secretary to investigate plan

The government has been accused of quietly shelving a delayed plan to restore the polluted River Wye after letters from the government show it is incomplete with no publication date in sight.

Letters revealed to the Guardian under freedom of information (FoI) laws show the then environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, told stakeholders in August that the government was “close to finalising” the plan to save the Wye and measures would be published within three months.

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Highly diverse and charismatic, these creatures deserve recognition as a sixth great extinction dawns

We are prone to obsessing over ourselves and over animals like us. But most of the life on Earth is not like us at all. Barely 5% of all known living creatures are animals with backbones. The rest – at least 1.3 million species, and many more still to be discovered – are spineless.

All hail the invertebrates, animals of wondrous diversity, unique niches and innovative and interesting ways of making a living on this planet. They include insects (at least a million), arachnids, snails, crustaceans, corals, jellyfish, sponges and echinoderms.

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Our natural history writer Patrick Barkham will make the case for 10 of our island’s best spineless wonders and we’re asking readers to nominate theirs

Though we love to focus on the vertebrates, more than 95% of the world’s known living creatures – at least 1.3m species – are spineless. These amazingly diverse animals include insects (at least a million), arachnids, snails, crustaceans, corals, jellyfish, sponges and echinoderms.

And now we want you to help us celebrate them.

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Fall to 14.4p comes after shareholders said they were unwilling to inject further funds

A bond issued by Thames Water’s parent company has fallen to record lows as the embattled company scrambles to secure its future, and the government signalled it is “ready to step in if necessary”.

The £400m bond, issued by the water supplier’s parent company, Kemble, has slumped to only 14.4p after shareholders indicated that they were unwilling to inject further funds into the heavily indebted utility company.

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We would like to hear about the natural sounds you’ve noticed disappearing from your local neighbourhood

Earth’s wildlife populations have plunged by 69% in less than 50 years, research shows . All around our planet, nature is being destroyed by human actions, with a sixth mass extinction well underway, scientists warn. This is making the natural world an increasingly quiet place.

We want to hear from our readers about what natural sounds they’ve noticed disappearing from their local area and what that has meant to them.

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Environmental pledges are being shredded to please agribusiness and appease extremists. It’s a terrible mistake

The EU’s great green deal cave-in has been nothing less than spectacular. As aggressive lobbying and violent farmers protests ramped up in the last year, Brussels has killed plans to cut pesticide use by half, to green farming practices, to ban toxic “forever” chemicals , to rein in livestock emissions and, last week, to restore nature to 20% of Europe’s land and seas.

The aim may have been to create breathing space. Predictably, that hasn’t worked. The bloc’s anti-deforestation regulation seems likely to be the next green reform for the chop, with 20 agriculture ministers reportedly calling for it to be pared back and suspended on Monday, citing “administrative burdens”.

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Increase in fairtrade sales to £13m shows shoppers still prioritising environment and workers’ wellbeing

British consumers might have faced the sharpest increase in living costs for four decades, but despite the cost of living crisis, concerns over the environment and the treatment of farmers in poorer countries has fuelled a steady increase in ethical shopping.

As households across the country rein in their spending to deal with rising bills, Michael Gadney, the chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation trade body, said consumers were still prioritising ethical products.

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Saving Alnmouth from rising seas and coastal erosion complicated by links course being on private land

For most golfers, the most damage a furious wind can do is to your handicap – and, if you are really unfortunate, your car windshield.

But visitors to Alnmouth village golf club in Northumberland have to contend with the prospect of storms and rising sea levels consigning the oldest nine-hole links course in the country to history.

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CAP scheme, which pays more to farms that occupy more land, drives ‘perverse outcomes for a food transition’, says study

The EU has made polluting diets “artificially cheap” by pumping four times more money into farming animals than growing plants, research has found.

More than 80% of the public money given to farmers through the EU’s common agriculture policy (CAP) went to animal products in 2013 despite the damage they do to society, according to a study in Nature Food . Factoring in animal feed doubled the subsidies that were embodied in a kilogram of beef, the meat with the biggest environmental footprint, from €0.71 to €1.42 (61p to £1.22).

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