Confluence Westcountry Rivers Trust 2014 review
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Contents What a difference a year makes
5
20 Years of action
7
Our aim
9
Protecting our rivers
11
Balancing our land use
13
Engaging people
15
Finance summary 2014
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President Michael Martin MBE Trustees and Directors Charles Huntington-Whiteley (Chairman of the Trust) Adam Fox-Edwards (Chairman of the Board of Directors) Paul Arnott The Lord Clinton Loudie Constantine Sir Simon Day Sir David Hoare Bt Jenny Ingham Clark Dr Keith Lancaster Henry Llewellyn The Hon Mrs George Lopes The Lord Roborough Richard Simpson Dr Andy Torrance William Wyldbore-Smith Chief Executive Dr Laurence Couldrick Company Secretary Kelly Sivorn Independent Auditors Mazars LLP Chartered Accountants 2 Stinsford Road, Poole BH17 0NF Registered Office Rain-Charm House, Kyl Cober Parc, Stoke Climsland, Callington, Cornwall PL17 8PH Registered Company Number: 06545646 Registered Charity Number: 1135007 Š Westcountry Rivers Trust, 2015. Cover Photo: Jo Neville
Dr La ure nc e
ck ldri u Co
of projects, acting as both Dylan’s and then Jonathan’s right-hand man. When the Trust formed in 1994 the Environment Agency, then the National Rivers Authority, was successful in addressing point source pollution in our rivers but the issue of diffuse pollution, coupled with migration barriers, invasive weeds and habitat loss meant that many of our West County rivers were still degraded. The river water quality, which served as a litmus paper for the land it drained, was poor and the fish populations, which are key indicator species, were in decline. As a Trust we have achieved a huge amount since then and I would love to report that our rivers are clean and sparkling and our fisheries, and the habitats and species that support them, are in good health but I cannot. As the UK population has increased we have demanded more from our land and whilst we have started to address the local issues on our rivers the national and international drivers of cheap food, short term policies and global markets still remain. It is perhaps not surprising then that only 1 in 5 rivers in the UK achieve the Government’s ‘Good Ecological Status’ and these figures are getting worse as we uncover the true state of our rivers.
What a difference a year makes Welcome to the latest issue of the Westcountry Rivers Trust’s review, Confluence, and let me first thank you for your patience in getting this ready as the Trust has gone through an unprecedented period of delivery and change. Over the past three years we have delivered more than £10m worth of projects to protect our rivers, whilst undergoing considerable change in staff. Firstly, Dr Dylan Bright, our previous CEO, left the Trust in late 2013, joining South West Water to manage the development of their Upstream Thinking programme. Sadly, since then Dylan was diagnosed with cancer and has continued to battle the disease and our thoughts are with him and his family. Alongside this Lynne Hyland, our Finance Director, left in 2014. Like Dylan, Lynne has had a huge impact over the past 10 years on our ethos and success. Thankfully, Jonathan Bailey, who came from managing a team at the Environment Agency, was able to step in as CEO, and steer the Trust through this period of change. Then in early 2015 Jonathan left the Trust and the Trustees appointed me to continue building on the success of the Trust by standing on the shoulders of these giants.
Whilst this is a bleak picture, I believe we are at a turning point where the silo approach and ‘out of sight out of mind’ view is shifting gradually to a greater awareness of our environment. Whilst it is optimistic to think the driver behind this is enlightened self-interest, perhaps a more realistic view is that we are angry at the consequences of asking too much of our environment. Flooding, drought, pollution health scares, high water bills and food security are increasingly featuring in our news and our lives. However, irrespective of why we are taking a greater interest in our environment, this presents us with a great opportunity to connect with communities, so together we can enact real long-lasting change. Over the past five years, Catchment Partnerships, consisting of the people who work and live on our rivers, have been developing and, whilst still in their infancy, they represent a valuable way for us to engage people and garner support for our work. We all have a role to play in this. Whether it is playing, planning, protecting, restoring, farming, monitoring, regulating or advising. We must all pull together to bring our rivers to life.
As you may know, the Trust was first conceived in 1994, achieving charitable status in 1995, so we are 20 years old and what a 20 years it has been. I first became aware of the Trust in late 2001 when my now wife gained employment as a farm advisor under the Cornwall Rivers Project. I watched the work of the Trust with interest whilst writing up my Doctorate and after finishing my PhD managed to win a bid to develop a River Basin Degree course and formally join the Trust in 2003. Since then I have developed the Trust’s educational activities and helped to win and run over £15m worth
Dr Laurence Couldrick CEO Westcountry Rivers Trust 3
1994 - 2014 Twenty years of action
ivers r ng i t over ec t o 3000kms of freshwater habitats opened to
Pr
Over the last 20 years we have gone from strength to strength and have achieved a huge amount of long term
15 years
change by delivering cutting edge projects.
Angling Passport scheme
Pioneering
genetic marker system to identify Salmon and Trout populations Major electrofishing campaigns on 4 large river systems
Pioneered
1897
ÂŁ5m
Invested on 184 large farm infrastructure projects to reduce diffuse polution
3,000
use of Payments for Ecosystem Services now included in international literature
integrated management farm resource management plans written
farmers worked with and given advice and guidance
Ba lan
environmental reverse auction for capital grants
UK’s first
d an l g cin
4
salmon and sea trout spawning habitats opened
1,000km
eels
4
weir removals technical fish passes
14
weir easements
210
obstructions removed
500
educational visits
6
Degree Course
developed and run on Sustainable River Basin management
Over 10,000 children worked with via our wet feet campaign
En
ga g
in g p e
40
salmon in the classroom projects
Pioneered
Hosted and co-hosted 6 catchment partnerships
use of Ecosystem Service mapping as an engagement tool
of river fenced off
364km
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o pl e 5
Our aim
to bring our rivers to life, from source to sea, for the benefit of all.
To do this we believe that:
THINKING GLOBALLY
■■ Restoration of river habitats and species must be done at a river basin scale; ■■ Land use, which dictates river health, must balance environmental, societal and economic demands; ■■ Engaging with our natural heritage using both science and common sense is the key to changing behaviour;
National government-policy based action
Engaging
Whilst it is vital to address local problems the Trust is adamant that we have a responsibility as one of the largest rivers trusts to address the wider drivers operating across all our rivers. This includes: Land based national farming action, such as the simplification and improvement in the enforcement of environmental regulation; Urban based action, such as the adoption of sustainable drainage solutions across all planning decisions to remove clean water from sewers; River based action, such as catchment planning and river species action plans; and open data sharing and devolved funding to ensure efficient and integrated local targeting of resources.
WaterLIFE
(funded by EC Life+)
The Westcountry Rivers Trust is working with the national Rivers Trust and the World Wildlife Fund to embed local catchment planning and targeting of resources into National Policy and Guidance. Additionally, the project is promoting adoption by business through Corporate Social Responsibility and Payments for Ecosystem Services.
Reconnecting their
Protecting rivers Restoring freshwater habitats and species
ACTING LOCALLY
Local on-farm and in-river based action
For each river catchment in the West Country we want to provide a long-term river officer who can: Firstly, act as a point of contract for local groups and partnerships (e.g. River Associations, Wildlife Trusts, businesses, etc.); Secondly, survey and monitor their local river to identify local pressures and barriers; and Thirdly, identify funding and manage work to remove these pressures. This local approach comes out of the eight catchment partnerships that have developed across the West Country but has to be delivered at a smaller operational scale to generate real local change.
River Exe
John Hickey has been working closely with several groups across the River Exe over the past 15 years, delivering land management advice to over 200 land managers and protected 50km of river bank through fencing, coppicing and in-river works.
“Taking farmers from the Otter
“I’ve been working on and
to water treatment works has
around the Exe for 15 years and
really brought home their
am immensely proud of the
impact on the environment”
impact we’ve had”
g
Yo
“Working in partnership on
Joh
the Taw has been the key to
n
delivering the huge amount of
Otte r e Ex
People
work over the years”
A
de
people with river
Taw
ar
m
Ta
H
el az
F o we
via
Improving the water leaving our land.
Ol i
D ar t
Balancing land use
y “The Dart is such a Beautiful river both Annabel and I have
Giles
loved working in the area over the past years”
“The Fowey provides most of
“The Trust is based in the Tamar
Cornwall with drinking water
catchment and both Ross and I
and we must protect it for
work tirelessly to improve this
future generations”
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key river”
Restoring freshwater habitats and species
Protecting rivers
Outcomes Each project delivered case studies pre and post-investment monitoring to demonstrate the improvements of specific features, which coupled with the formal annual assessment of ecological status by the Environment Agency, as well as local improvements in fisheries returns, highlights the success of the projects in removing pollutants and increasing fish populations across all rivers.
2014 saw some of our major river restoration projects coming to a close. The largest of these were the five Catchment Restoration Fund projects (funded by Defra and managed by the Environment Agency) to achieve improvements in the Water Framework Directive ecological status. The five projects were based in the Dart & Teign, South Cornwall, the South Hams, the Taw and the Axe & Exe and targeted predominantly areas where fish populations were degraded, phosphate levels were too high and where diatoms (microscopic organisms) indicated high levels of sediment.
Walla Brook Electrofishing results for 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013 (EA & WRT) show that salmon fry numbers were absent from all sites on the Walla Brook. The Trust conducted an extensive habitat walkover and found a large woody debris/tree blockage was noted near the confluence. In early 2014 the debris blockage was removed and 1.6 km of carefully selected coppicing was completed. In summer 2014, WRT’s electrofishing surveys recorded salmon fry at all three sites on the Walla Brook for the first time.
Actions Each project had detailed survey and monitoring programmes to target work and each partnership aimed to alleviate the problems by concentrating firstly, on in-river work:
■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■
2 weir removals, 10 elver passes,
18 fish easements/passes,
River Taw
47 woody debris management, 13 flow deflectors,
Adrian Dowding has been working in partnership with the River Taw Fisheries Association and the Environment Agency to remove over 40 barriers to fish migration across the river Taw over the past 7 years including Head Weir. So far they have improved access over 600km of spawning habitat.
25km of coppiced river bank,
150 improving gravel sites - cleaning 131 and augmentation 19.
and secondly, land based work:
■■ ■■ ■■ ■■
83km of fenced watercourses,
‘Anecdotal evidence from Taw fishermen is very encouraging. More salmon and sea trout are being seen (and caught) higher up the river and our stocks seem to be spread more evenly through the system. This year’s rod catch numbers are expected to show further improvement, especially since we have had good water conditions which look likely to continue right to the end of the season’ Alex Gibson, RTFA.
264 farm nutrient and soil reports,
309ha of restoring and creating wetland 172ha of woodland planting secured.
additionally, the projects also:
■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■
ran Redd count record training,
installed riparian interpretation boards
ran science days and catchment events,
Wider economic impacts
delivered 9 Salmon in the Classroom events
ran a final conference attended by 200 people electro-fished over 200 sites
Alongside the benefits to complying with the Water Framework Directive the improvements in water quality and fish populations had wider economic impacts. The Trust commissioned an independent economic assessment of each project, which found that for every £1 spent the project injected £3.46 into the local economy predominantly through fishing, local tourism and farm income.
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Improving the water leaving our land Collective loss of Nitrogen to the environment from field testing sites 2010 to 2015 following nutrient advice 80
Average Nitrogen loss kg/ha
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2010/2011
2011/2012
2012/2013
2013/2014
2014/2015
Balancing land use 2014 was a crucial year for the Trust and witnessed the culmination of Upstream Thinking (UST) as one of our flagship Payments for Ecosystem Service projects. Upstream Thinking is a South West Water funded initiative delivered in part by Westcountry Rivers Trust to improve raw water quality in strategically important catchments before abstraction and treatment for drinking water.
Additionally, the projects on the Fowey were selected using the UK’s first reverse auction. This additional element was funded by Defra and the Trust worked in partnership with the University of East Anglia to allow farmers to bid for projects that would improve water quality. Both this element of the project and the wider Payments for Ecosystem Services nature of the project have been written into national and international guidance and best practice case studies alongside global examples.
The majority of interventions within the project, were in the Tamar and Fowey and involved advice and farmyard infrastructure grants to reduce diffuse pollution and improve on-farm management of resources. These were enshrined through robust contractual and deed agreements to ensure longevity and the use of best practice.
Outcomes Whilst monitoring of the project outcomes was not initially included in the project the Trust was able to lever additional funding to review the benefits of the scheme as well as link the projects to the Trust’s ongoing monitoring programmes.
Actions Work was carried out predominantly on the Tamar, Otter and Fowey catchments, mainly comprising of arable farming, numerous dairy and beef farms with high livestock densities (where manure and slurry produced from cattle can increase phosphate and bacteria (Faecal coliforms) in nearby streams and rivers). This can prove costly to remove and also has a significant impact on river ecology leading to poor conditions for algae, plants invertebrate and subsequently fish. Individually they are not classed as pollution or illegal events, however when combined they lead to elevated levels of nutrient entering ditches, stream and rivers causing water quality to deteriorate.
Otter catchment The Trust gave advice, ran trials, workshops and a variety of grant-aided works are helping to reduce levels of nitrogen in groundwater. The issues facing groundwater are different and more complex to surface water issues, however successful trials have been undertaken using slow release fertilisers to reduce waste and contamination, along with differing cultivation techniques such as min till (non plough) and direct drilling when the seed is drilled directly into the soil after the previous crop has been harvested to reduce potential soil loss. (see graph on opposite page)
The works delivered over this project to address these issues included 300 farm resource plans, 50km of ditch and river fencing, 144 crossings points and alternative water and 184 yard projects, such as overwinter cattle housing, slurry management and clean and dirty water separation. Additionally, the project team also delivered 548 soil tests and 131 manure/nutrient tests to improve resource management.
Caudworthy catchment The Trust was able to lever government funding via the Demonstration Test Catchment to evaluate the impacts of diffuse pollution advice and grants on water quality. One of the research projects evaluated the impact of fencing on pollutants to show that the fenced fields significantly decreased in river concentrations or feacal indicator organisms such as E. Coli. Further results are currently being assessed now significant post-restoration data is collected.
“Soil is a crucial resource and 1 cm of topsoil can take over 500 years to form but can be lost over a single storm, leaving a field unable to produce future crops, potential loss over the winter mud on roads, Collective increased drinking water treatment costs, degraded river habitats and additional harbour dredging.” Ross Cherrington - Tamar farm advisor
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Reconnecting people with their river
Š Jiri Rezac
Engaging people
WRT conference
At the end of 2014 the Westcountry Rivers Trust hosted a two day conference to celebrate our 20 year anniversary as well as the culmination of the projects that drew to a close and the partners that helped deliver them. More than 180 people attended the event and the message of integrated partnership action was spread far and wide.
In 2014, engagement at the Trust encompassed a wide variety of activities, from school visits, workshops and conference presentations to printed and digital outputs including websites, multimedia and reports, aimed at both technical and non-technical audiences. These engagement activities were delivered through several key Trust projects, including the Catchment Based Approach, Upstream Thinking and the Catchment Restoration Fund projects, as well as projects delivered under Westcountry Rivers Ltd. In addition, Trust staff continued to deliver day-to-day engagement activities throughout all their work with farmers, fishermen, school children and the Trust’s many partner organisations across the region.
“As a long-time but now distant supporter of WRT (once based on the Tamar), now working on the chalk streams of Hants/ Wilts, I came away fuelled with ideas about how I might put together our own small, pilot project” Fisheries manager
Fingle Brook Monitoring the impact of road run off from the A30 on the Fingle Brook - A network of six temperature, pressure and conductivity sensors were installed at key locations along the Fingle Brook. These were positioned to capture the influence of road runoff inputs on dissolved solids between upstream and downstream. Detailed spatial sampling showed elevated concentrations of metals, particularly lead, below road drainage inputs, with values above Environmental Quality Standards. The Trust is instigating remedial works focusing on creation of a drainage attenuation pond and flow regulation in the existing drainage gullies.
2014 saw the Trust develop significant capabilities in the design and delivery of state-of-the-art monitoring programmes and in the use of mapping and modelling to effectively engage with a variety of groups to gain consensus and target delivery. This included
■■
Hosting or co-hosting six Catchment Based Approach partnerships in North Devon, South Devon, East Devon, the Tamar, East & North Cornwall and West Cornwall.
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Providing evidence reviews for Tamar, North Devon, South Devon and East Devon. These have been used to facilitate discussion in catchment partnerships and build consensus.
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Co-ordinating the Trusts monitoring and targeting work across the region (Examples opposite)
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Adding to the now 60 videos on our YouTube channel, that have been viewed 28,000 times.
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Increasing our social media presence, including 2000 followers on Twitter.
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Delivery of 77 school events, workshops and conferences
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Using data and monitoring to assess the health of rivers, target restoration efforts and to help local people gain a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities we face in protecting and restoring our natural environment.
Investigating pH The Trust undertook continuous monitoring in the upper reaches of the Upper West Dart River to determine pH conditions over the year. Our evidence suggests that low pH (below pH 5) conditions occur when rivers are in spate, and these pulses are likely to be pronounced following dry spells and there is a large body of literature reporting that exposure to these short events can have deleterious effects upon biota. The Trust is now working with the University of Plymouth to assess the impacts of remediation on biota.
Modelling and Mapping The engagement team has been delivering a wide variety of modelling and mapping products to Natural England through two Diffuse Water Pollution Plans (Axe and Camel) and to the Catchment Partnerships through four individual catchment evidence reviews. These products were used to engage local communities and feedback included:
“I just wanted to feedback how impressed I am with the thorough and detailed content of the draft report which I am sure will be helpful in focusing attention on the areas at greatest need of improvement”
“My first impressions are – wow, what a wonderful bit of work that will be so useful for the catchment partnerships. It’s so good!”
Catchment partnership partner
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© Jiri Rezac
© Jiri Rezac
© Jiri Rezac
© Jiri Rezac
Financial stability and good governance
© Jiri Rezac
© Jiri Rezac
Finance summary 2014
Thank you to all our supporters and funders
Catchment Management £1,331,483
Trading £200,638
Trading £284,093
Generating Voluntary Income £28,767
Voluntary Income £100,703
Governance £16,962
Fisheries & Recreation £1,124,105
Fisheries & Recreation £1,331,826 Catchment Management £1,632,656
Income from charitable activities
Expenditure on charitable activities
£2,455,588: During 2014 the Trust continued to deliver three major projects with corresponding income from these projects as follows: SWW funded Upstream Thinking project - £349k; EU funded Atlantic Aquatic Resource Conservation (AARC) project - £255k; and Environment Agency Catchment Restoration Fund projects - £1,608k. These are restricted income projects and together they constitute 90% of the Trust’s income from charitable activities and 86% of the Trusts’ total income (excluding the trading subsidiary).
£2,964,482: Total resources expended by the Trust in 2014, excluding the trading subsidiary, were £3,010k and of this expenditure on charitable activities represents 98%. Continued delivery of the Trust’s three major projects resulted in expenditure as follows: SWW funded Upstream Thinking project - £447k; EU funded Atlantic Aquatic Resource Conservation (AARC) project - £257k; and Environment Agency Catchment Restoration Fund projects - £1,821k. Together expenditure on these three projects constituted 85% of the Trust’s expenditure on charitable activities and 84% of the Trust’s total expenditure (excluding the trading subsidiary). Expenditure on generating funds: £28,767: Costs of generating voluntary income have decreased by £7k (19%) from the previous year and represent less than 1% of the Trust’s total expenditure. £200,638: This includes expenditure by WRL which has increased by £72k (56%) from the previous year and is consistent with the increase in income.
Income from generating funds £100,703: At £101k voluntary income represents only a small element of the Trust’s income stream, amounting to less than 4% of total income for 2014. This includes income from donations and is largely consistent year on year with the variance from the previous year being less than £1k. £284,093: This includes income from the Trust’s wholly owned trading subsidiary, Westcountry Rivers Limited (WRL). 2014 was another successful year for WRL whose income has been steadily increasing over the last few years to reach a high of £284k in 2014, an increase of £67k (30%) from 2013.
Governance: £16,962: Governance costs have remained consistent across 2013 and 2014 and represent less than 1% of the total resources expended by the Trust.
Restricted Reserves:
Unrestricted Reserves
£734,388: Restricted reserves have decreased by £311k (30%) from the previous year-end. Expenditure in 2014 has required applying both current year income and utilising brought forward restricted reserves and the deficit primarily reflects the significant expenditure in the current year related to the Trust’s three major projects as noted above. The deficit for these projects is £313k.
£248,845: Unrestricted reserves have decreased by £56k (18%) from the previous year-end. Several of the Trust’s major projects came to an end in 2013 and 2014 and this required the Trust to invest some of its unrestricted reserves to deliver its’ charitable objectives and minimise the impact on delivery following a reduction in funding.
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Support your river Please help us to protect your river by volunteering your time or by making a donation. ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■
Your time helps us control invasive weeds, manage river banks or survey our rivers. £100 allows us to test soil nutrients and reduce loss
£250 allows us to run a school event and get the teachers using their local river. £500 allows us to restore a gravel bed for spawning
You can donate by visiting: http://wrt.org.uk/support https://www.giveasyoulive.com/charity/wrt