The UK's First PFAS Plan: Published, Challenged, and Being Watched
The UK government published its first national PFAS strategy on 3 February 2026. The plan has been challenged in Parliament on 'polluter pays' compliance under the Environment Act 2021. Leigh Day is tracking whether the plan meets the government's own statutory obligations.
- Defra, PFAS Plan: Building a Safer Future Together, 3 February 2026
- Emma Hardy MP parliamentary challenge on Environment Act 2021 compliance [UNVERIFIED — specific debate date and Hansard reference not confirmed]
- Environment Act 2021, Part 1 (statutory environmental targets)
- Leigh Day LLP — public statement on tracking Defra PFAS plan compliance
The Defra PFAS Plan
On 3 February 2026, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published the UK’s first national PFAS strategy: PFAS Plan: Building a Safer Future Together.
The plan sets out the government’s approach to addressing PFAS contamination across England, including:
- Commitments to further monitoring and research
- A framework for regulatory action on PFAS in products and discharges
- Statements on the “polluter pays” principle — that those responsible for contamination should bear the costs of remediation
The plan does not contain immediate requirements for sites currently discharging PFAS under permit. The Environment Agency permit for AGC Chemicals Europe at Hillhouse (EPR/BU5453IY) remains in force. No commitment to revoke or substantially revise the permit appears in the plan.
Environmental groups including CHEM Trust have described the plan as an inadequate response to the documented scale of PFAS contamination in the UK.
The Parliamentary Challenge
Emma Hardy MP challenged the plan in Parliament on the question of “polluter pays” compliance under the Environment Act 2021. [UNVERIFIED — specific debate date, Hansard reference, and exact wording of the challenge have not been confirmed against a primary parliamentary record. This will be updated when the relevant Hansard extract is confirmed.]
The Environment Act 2021 introduced new statutory environmental targets and legal duties on the Secretary of State. The “polluter pays” principle has long been embedded in UK and EU environmental law, but the Environment Act created new mechanisms for enforcement. Whether the Defra PFAS plan’s “polluter pays” commitments meet the standard required by the 2021 Act is a legal question that has not been resolved in the public record.
Leigh Day’s Position
Leigh Day — the environmental law firm investigating potential legal action relating to contamination from the Hillhouse estate — has stated publicly that it is tracking whether the Defra PFAS plan meets the government’s statutory obligations under the Environment Act 2021.
This is distinct from Leigh Day’s investigation into potential claims against site operators. It represents scrutiny of the government’s regulatory response — whether Defra’s own plan is legally sufficient under the statutory framework Parliament put in place.
What the Plan Does Not Address
The Defra PFAS plan is a national framework document. It does not address site-specific situations including:
- The ongoing permitted discharge of EEA-NH4 at approximately 800 kg/year from the Hillhouse estate into the River Wyre
- The first Part 2A Contaminated Land classification at the Hillhouse investigation (Occupation Road Allotments, 5 March 2026)
- The 71 residential properties in Thornton-Cleveleys now tested, with 7 designated high risk
- The absence of any biomonitoring programme for affected residents
Whether any of these matters will be addressed within the framework of the national plan, and on what timescale, is not set out in publicly available documents.
Emma Hardy MP
[UNVERIFIED — Emma Hardy MP’s specific parliamentary challenge to the Defra PFAS plan on “polluter pays” / Environment Act 2021 grounds requires a Hansard reference for full confirmation. The debate date, exact wording, and ministerial response have not been confirmed against a primary parliamentary record. If you can supply the Hansard reference or other primary source, please get in touch.]
Sources: Defra PFAS Plan (3 February 2026); Leigh Day PFAS page; Environment Act 2021; CHEM Trust coverage. Emma Hardy MP challenge: [UNVERIFIED — Hansard reference to be confirmed].