Nature River Mel Restoration
It is ten years since the River Mel Restoration Group was founded, so this seems a good time to reflect on the group’s beginnings and to take stock of what we have achieved to date. It began In Meldreth when a group of riparian owners and other interested villagers came together with the expressed aim of restoring the river and improving its biodiversity before the declining species were lost to the river. To this end, we received advice and encouragement from the Ecology Officer for South Cambridgeshire District Council and the local Fisheries Officer for the Environment Agency, both of whom accompanied us on an informal walk along the river to discuss the possible improvements we could make. Out of this meeting the River Mel Restoration Group was formed. As this was the first project for a newly formed, inexperienced, group the planning stage for this project was of crucial importance to us. Dr Ian Hirst from the Fisheries Division of the EA arranged for Dr Jenny Mant from the River Restoration Centre to visit the river and to prepare a report for us. This was invaluable, as we had no prior knowledge of the types of soft engineering techniques suitable for use in our river, although we had abundant enthusiasm! We also made the decision that we would do as much of the work as possible ourselves, rather than employ commercial contractors. The main reason for this was that we hoped that this would lead to a greater feeling of ownership of the project by the wider community. With the benefit of hindsight, this seems to have been the correct decision. Not only has the river and its environs benefited from the project, but so has the community at large. There is less litter, less vandalism and there is more of a sense of community responsibility towards what happens in and around the river.
Unfortunately, the planning stage was very time consuming, and particularly frustrating for those members who wanted to leap into the river and get “stuck in”. Though desperate to get into the river and get started there were a number of obstacles in our way. First we had to identify all the riparian, or bank side, owners to gain their permission to access the river – this applied even to the stretches of the river that are bounded by a public footpath. Second, we had to hold off while we drew and then submitted detailed plans of our proposed work to the Environment Agency for their approval. We could not do anything in the river until these came through. The other thing we needed was money! One of the problems with being a new group was that we had no money of our own and no track record of delivering a project of this sort. We were extremely fortunate that the South Cambridgeshire District Council and the Environment Agency took a chance and between them promised approximately £2,000 of initial funding. However, these funds had to be claimed retrospectively against paid invoices, so it was only due to the fact that various committee members were prepared to put up their own money against the promise of a grant that we managed to survive the first few months of our existence. We quickly realised that we needed to raise money, both to provide a financial cushion and to enable us to apply for matched funding to finance future works. This, in turn, necessitated the formation of a structured group with a proper constitution, a bank account and a formal membership – all of which are necessary when applying for external grant funding. Melbourn did not come “on stream”, if you will forgive the pun, until later - but more of that another time… melbournmagazine
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