Nature River Mel Restoration Group The last couple of months have seen the River Mel Restoration Group busy out of the river as well as in. We took an information stall to Melbourn Village Fete, as well as being out and about giving talks on our work to local groups. We found that people were particularly interested to hear about the planning and permissions that are required before we can even don our waders. When we plan a project, we start by consulting with Rob Mungovan, Ecology Officer for the South Cambridgeshire District Council. Then, having outlined a scheme of works that would benefit the river and its dependent wildlife, we set about obtaining consent from all the relevant parties. The group has to draw up detailed scale plans and these, along with full details of the proposed works,
are submitted to the Environment Agency in order to gain their formal consent before work can start in or adjacent to the river. An officer from the agency will visit the site to discuss the application prior to permissions being granted. Environmental issues, including flood risk, wildlife conservation, fisheries, and any reshaping of the river and landscape, are all factors that are taken into consideration when they consider granting permissions. The Environment Agency will not approve works that they believe would harm the environment or would increase the flood risk - even if the works appear to be sound from an engineering or structural point of view. They also promote ‘soft-engineering’ methods of restoration and erosion control, preferring the use of natural materials and natural planting, as are used by our group, to control erosion where practical. Melbourn is very fortunate in having a thriving population
of water voles living along the banks of the Mel. These voles are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which makes it an offence to disturb or obstruct their breeding and resting places. Consequently, the Environment Agency made it a condition of our consents that we sought advice from Natural England on how to minimise any impact that our works might have on this population. We are pleased to report that their advice has worked extremely well and that water voles have already recolonised the areas where we have been working. Receiving consent for our plans from the Environment Agency is only the first stage of the permissions process. Even with these consents in place, we cannot carry out any works in or near the river without the permission of the riparian land owner. The term ‘riparian owner’ describes any person who owns land adjacent to, or through which, a river or watercourse passes. New members of
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