River Ribble Trust - Nature in the Dales

Ribble Rivers Trust
Yorkshire Dales BAP Rivers Conference
1st November 2013
Ribble Rivers Trust
Contents:
Who are Ribble Rivers Trust
Introduction to the Ribble Catchment
Issues affecting the Catchment
The Water Framework Directive and the Ribble
Ribble Life
Stakeholders
Engagement Activities
Data Sharing
Catchment Action Plan
Next Steps
Ribble Rivers Trust
Who are Ribble Rivers Trust?
The Ribble Rivers Trust are a charity that was formed in
1998:
“To restore, protect and enhance the Ribble and all of its
tributaries”
RRT was formed by local people to improve their local rivers.
It has 8 trustees who are passionate about the whole of the
Ribble Catchment and skilled to ensure this is achieved
We have 8 full time employees and 5 part time employees
Farm advisors, Scientific Officer, Invasive Species Officer, Contracts
Manager, Volunteer Supervisor, Habitat Project officers, Education
and Engagement Officers
We also supervise 2 PhD Students, and around 4 Graduates and
Undergraduates
We also have a band of dedicated volunteers helping with
monitoring and survey work, tree planting, fencing and much
more.
Ribble Rivers Trust
The River Ribble:
Drains a 900 square mile area or catchment
The river starts in the Yorkshire Dales at Ribble Head and
flow through south westerly to Lancashire
The main river Ribble is 80 miles long, Starting near Ribble
Head, flowing to Preston and the Irish Sea.
There are hundreds of tributaries, which equate to at least
1410miles of running water
There are three other major rivers flowing into the Ribble:
the Calder, the Hodder, and the Darwen.
The population of the Ribble Catchment is approximately
1.25 million people.
Ribble Rivers Trust
The River Ribble:
Has many riverine protected species, covered by various
legislation, plans and initiatives, some key iconic species
include:
White Clawed Crayfish
Salmon
Trout
Eels
Lamprey – Brook, River and
Sea
• Grayling
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Dipper
Kingfisher
Heron
Otters
Water Voles
We also have protected habitats, including the Long Preston
SSSI
Ribble Rivers Trust
What
are some of the impacts
Agriculture
Diffuse and point source pollution
Livestock faecal inputs
Land changes – cropping, flood
embankments
Water usage
Tree clearance and loss of
regeneration
Land drainage
Compaction
Rural
Diffuse & point source pollution
Bridges
Weirs
Urban
Hard surface
Diffuse and point source pollution
Water usage
Changes to flood plain
Changes to banks
Bridges
Weirs
Litter
Invasive Species
Water usage
Reservoirs/Abstraction
Sewage works
Ribble Rivers Trust
It is quite clear, that no one organisation alone can address these
issues.
Do we need to address all these issues?
The Water Framework Directive (WFD)
All Water Bodies need to be in Good Ecological Status or Good
Ecological Potential by 2027.
Currently the Ribble has 81 riverine Water Bodies, and the Baseline 2009
status of these was such
Each one of the issues/impacts previously listed is causing a
Water body to fail to meet it’s ecological Status,
WFD status of Ribble riverine water bodies
Baseline data from 2009 – 11 in poor ecological
status, 42 in moderate and 28 in good condition.
Poor
Moderate
Good
Ribble Rivers Trust
Under the WFD the Environment Agency must set out a plan to
demonstrate how they will achieve the goal of 100% WBs in
GES/GEP.
The River Basin Management Plan, first published in 2009, the
RBMP, went through a variety of mechanisms to identify where
and what was to be done.
Under article 14 of the WFD the EA has to encourage Public
Participation in three specific ways:
Access to background information
Consultation in three steps of the planning process
Active involvement of interested parties in all aspects of the
implementation of the WFD
Ribble Rivers Trust
During the first planning process or cycle it was felt this was not
achieved
Additionally it was felt that there was a lack of ambition in the
RBMP
As a result DEFRA and the EA decided to trial a new approach
to WFD planning and implementation – now referred to as the
Catchment Based Approach (CaBA)
There were 15 externally hosted pilot areas, and 8 EA hosted
pilot areas, and two co-hosted areas – including the Ribble
The initiative a “pilot” was called Ribble Life.
Ribble Rivers Trust
So what were these pilots meant to achieve?
Initially Greater Engagement and Consultation on WFD
Develop a stakeholder group
Create a Shared Vision
Creation of a Catchment Action Plan
An opportunity to try different things, and that
innovation was important.
Early work highlighted that to achieve greater
engagement, much terminology had to stripped from
the process, and that there would need to be an
incentive
“Creating a healthy water
environment that will bring economic
and social benefits for all”
Ribble Rivers Trust
So the Core aim of the Ribble Life process:
Increase the amount of activity within the catchment
that resulted in improved rivers
To be achieved through:
Increasing engagement, education and consultation
Identifying both WFD activities, but also “WFD+”
Developing a centralised catchment data set
Creating an interactive Catchment Action Plan
To try and embed Ribble Life within the RBMP
process
Ribble Rivers Trust
A simple but key process in delivering
catchment improvements:
Identify
Sustain
Improve
Ribble Rivers Trust
We had our aims and some general objectives,
but how to deliver this..
Stakeholder Mapping was challenging due to scale
and complexity of the Catchment:
2 County Councils
1 Unitary Authority
10 Local Authorities
4 LNPs
1 National Park
1AONB
Natural England
Forestry Commission
The Coal Authority
Highways Agency
2 LEPs
NFU
Tennant Farmers Association
CLA
United Utilities
Keep Britain Tidy
Canal and Rivers Trust
RSPB
Groundwork
National Trust
2 Wildlife Trusts
Catchment Sensitive Farming
THE PUBLIC!
Ribble Rivers Trust
Project Board
How to maximise engagement, and
governance
(EA:RRT)
Initially:
Stakeholder
Forum
Limited understanding of WFD, Catchment
Dynamics
'Communities of
Interest'
Limited delivery of activities specifically
to achieve
Wider
River/Stream improvement
community
There was limited amount of commitment
'Communities of
Place'
As such initially no steering group was formed
However a “Stakeholder Exchange” was created
Ribble Rivers Trust
Engagement Activities:
An opening Event
Followed by 1-2-1 meetings
“Stakeholder Exchange”
Site Visits
Catchment Appraisal Tours
Presentations
Questionnaires
Publicity
Websites
Social Media
Consultations/initiatives
Ribble Rivers Trust
Data sharing:
Often this can reduce the costs of project delivery
It can highlight
Overlapping objectives, providing opportunities to create
collaborations to deliver more objectives
Overlapping constraints, ensure there is no damage to
habitats from other works.
240+ Data sets have been collected
These need collating, and displaying/sharing
Ribble Rivers Trust
Catchment Action Plan:
During the other activities we identified that the
Forest of Bowland AONB management plan
represented an ideal format
A template was created and many activities were
added:
Currently being delivered
Those required
RRT, EA and Other stakeholders
Currently the CAP represents a general plan.
Ribble Rivers Trust
At present there is no formal way to link the
CAP or Ribble Life into the RBMP
This is the crucial next step, to ensure the efforts
of the stakeholders in identifying opportunities,
requirements and priorities are formally
recognised and delivered.
RRT sit on the River Basin District Liaison
Panel which provides the opportunity for Ribble
Life to influence the RBMP at a regional level.
Ribble Rivers Trust
The Future, Ribble Life aims to:
Provide Clear, Collated and Concise information relating to the current
state of the catchment and the required actions to make improvements,
using local knowledge of the catchment.
Use our, and combine others, expertise to prioritise water based activities
required in the Catchment
Identify and create opportunities to deliver prioritised actions via “packaged
projects”, either through individual organisations or favourably through
collaboration.
Engage stakeholder not currently engaged and undertake or participate in
meetings, workshops and other events to encourage
Seek and collate funding opportunities to sustain Ribble Life, specifically
with regard to the above activities.
Collate, report and publicise the work being carried out by partners, and
stakeholders
Ribble Rivers Trust
There are still some development activities
needed:
Explore with stakeholders the “measures of success”
and keep an on-going record of these
To aid in identifying, collating and feeding into
consultations, processes and other initiatives
Explore a suitable governance structure that
stakeholders are willing to commit to and/or
participate in.
Ribble Rivers Trust
Questions?