The Whitewater Valley Preservation Society has published its response to the Environment Agency’s consultation on its charges.

The River Whitewater is failing to meet Good Ecological Status (GES) under the Water Framework Directive (WFD).  As a direct result WVPS has raised funds to carry out a study into the Whitewater in the context of the Salmon and Trout Conservation UK’s River Fly Study.  The survey was conducted at five sites along the river, in both spring and autumn. Results from the first year reveal that all sites fail on both of two indicators of a healthy system.  Significant effort will be required to make improvements to the river’s ecology.  The type of work likely to be required will be directly affected by the proposed increase in charges for river works.  As a result, it will deter organisations such as WVPS from being able to carry out the works and thereby will effectively further damage, or at least fail to improve, the river ecology.

WVPS therefore objects to the scale of the Environment Agency’s proposed increases for charges for permits to carry out habitat improvement works in our local rivers.

There are many community groups, river trusts, wildlife groups and societies such as ours who, with limited funds, are currently making a real and important contribution towards improving rivers and streams and the implementation of the Water Framework Directive on failing water bodies.  The work of these groups is not recognised in the assumptions behind the revised proposed charges.

The proposed charges are extortionately high – far too great reasonably to expect small organisations to pay, especially for small scale community based work relying on charitable funding and volunteer labour.

The charges imply that there will be financial gain from river improvement.  This is simply not true for the projects, which organisations such as ours wish to undertake.  The benefit is to the wider ecology, to society, and to meet Water Framework Directive objectives.  This is work, which the EA itself should be undertaking or at least funding, to meet Water Framework Directive targets.

Read WVPS full response here:

EnvironmentAgencyCharges_WVPSresponse

The Environment Agency (EA) is currently consulting on proposals to change its permit charges. The EA proposes to increase significantly the cost of applying for Environmental Permits for, amongst other reasons, habitat improvement work in rivers.

As part of  the Loddon Fisheries and Conservation Consultative (LFCC), the Whitewater Valley Preservation Society shares their disappointment with these proposals.  The LFCC states:

“This type of work is regularly carried out by volunteers or small organisations working on shoestring budgets. The schemes are often funded by small grants which sometimes prohibit the use of the grant to cover costs such as permit application. Even when allowable, the charges could swallow up as much as 25% of the grant.

Yet the aims of these projects are typically to improve riverine habitats for fish and other wildlife, enhance diversity and to reduce flood risk. This fully supports EA policy objectives including the achievement of good qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The projects give a valuable opportunity to engage the wider community in the planning and implementation of schemes.

These increases are likely to have a number of potential affects including:

• reduced number of projects
• reduced value / impact of projects
• increased likelihood of unregulated work
• hamper ‘on the ground’ relations of front-line EA staff
• de-motivate the enthusiasm of volunteers

This could result in increased habitat degradation, reduced flood and drought resilience, all compromising the EA’s ability to meet those WFD targets.

The effects of the proposed changes could have been mitigated by a much needed revision of the poorly drafted permit exemptions, but we have been advised that this is outside the scope of the consultation and not currently under consideration.

The LFCC is generally very supportive of the EA and we hugely value the work of some very well motivated and talented local staff, who we feel deserve far more support than can be given in the current economic climate. However despite appreciating the financial restraints that the EA are currently encountering we feel that these proposals are hardly an appropriate route to raise capital.”

Further reaction and advice for making responses is provided by The Angling Trust.

We encourage as many individuals as possible to reply to the Environment Agency Consultation, which closes on January 26th.

Both the Whitewater Valley Preservation Society and the LFCC will be lodging formal objections to the scale of the proposed increases. We will publish the WVPS response on our website as soon as possible.

The Loddon Rivers Week is upon us! The week culminates in a walk at Bassetts Mead on Sunday 24th September 2017 10.30am – 12.30pm. Please book your place by emailing [email protected]

Loddon Rivers Week 2017 – Bassetts Mead Walk details

Salmon and Trout Conservation UK

Nick Measham, project manager of Salmon and Trout Conservation UK, joined our annual general meeting as guest speaker in March 2017.  Nick gave us a fascinating presentation on the Riverfly Census.

83% of English rivers fail the test of “good ecological status” as defined by European environmental legislation, including the Whitewater.  Understanding how and why the riverfly numbers are declining is the first step in the process of safeguarding the aquatic environment.  Consequently, Salmon and Trout Conservation UK is undertaking this important survey on rivers across the UK.  We look forward to reporting the results of this work, as they are published.