Tim Longstaff of the Wandle Trust discusses WFD delivery at the Instutute of Fisheries Management

1. Will gleaming rivers rise from
the murk of WFD?
Tim Longstaff
The Wandle Trust
Presentation for IFM
7th March 2013

2. Summary
• Rivers Trusts
• The Wandle Trust
• WFD - opportunities and challenges
– Catchment Plans
– GEP
– The future – what happens next?
• WFD Projects
– Current and completed

3. Rivers Trusts
Independent organisations working to improve the
health of rivers for environmental & public benefit
Ideal partners for WFD delivery
Originate from the community
• Formed when local people become
concerned for their river
• Charitable Trusts
• Local knowledge and expertise
National coverage
• Over 40 trusts
• National body; The Rivers Trust
Support existing RTs, encourage
new RTs, secure funding, R+D
© Crown copyright and database rights 2013

4. Rivers Trusts
• Seen as ‘honest brokers’ between EA and community
groups/other stakeholders
• Good at public and community interaction
Rivers Trusts get things done
• ‘Wet feet’ – practical catchment, river & fishery
improvement works
• Work is science/evidence based
• Practise ecosystems approach on catchment scale
• Deliver with community engagement where possible
• Ensure volunteers contributions are effective

5. The Wandle Trust
An environmental charity dedicated to maintaining & restoring the
health of the River Wandle and its catchment
•Formed mid-1990s
•concerned residents & anglers
•Established a Charity in 2000
•Wandle Piscators founded in 2004
•2007/8 a new era:
• A Rivers Trust
• Pollution & compensation -Bella
• Began more restoration work

6. The Wandle Trust: aims & objectives
The River Wandle will achieve Good Ecological Potential &
the Wandle catchment will set international standards for
urban community-driven sustainability and environmental
excellence in river rehabilitation and restoration.
1. Engagement 3. Environmental improvement
2. Education 4. Partnership & facilitation
• Partnership working with the community at the heart:
ownership & stewardship – better outcome with local
volunteers
• Science/evidence based action

7. Community engagement activities...
River Cleanups
© S. Evans 2009
© S. Evans 2009
© D. Soar 2009

8. Community engagement activities...
D.Soar
Trout in the Classroom
D.Soar

9. INNS
Habitat
enhancements

10. River Restoration

11. WFD and the growth of the Wandle Trust
• Defra RIF –Fish passage (eels, salmonids)
• Recruit Catchment Project Officer - Me!
• Defra CRF – WFD based
• Recruit Catchment Project Officer – Toby Hull
• Expanding work to the Hogsmill, Beverley Brook, Mole
• South East Rivers Trust (SERT)
• EA And RT keen to fill gap in SE England
• Spreading the Wandle model of scientific catchment
management and community engagement
• Work in partnership and faciltate river improvements

12. A journey through the mists of WFD
‘’If you understand WFD then you
haven’t explained WFD’’

13. A brief recent history of WFD
……….from a Rivers Trust perspective
• RBMP 2009
– No local stakeholders and community input (or largely
ignored)
– Lack of real data
– Interpolation of data between catchments
– Unworkable
• UK Government re-worked things and gave £110M for
river improvement.

14. Opportunity knocks!
For WFD delivery……..
• £28M for Catchment Restoration Fund (CRF)
For the Wandle Trust………
• £1M from various sources (mostly CRF) to deliver WFD

15. Catchment Plans
• Key to delivering River Restoration
• Getting under the bonnet of the river!
– What is working?
– What is broken?
– What can we do?

16. Catchment Plans
• Defra recognised this too
– Way of getting the local knowledge input into the RBMP
– Set up 25 Pilots and further 55 unofficial pilot schemes
• What is the best way of catchment planning?
– No guidance given
– Review process
BUT……..
• CPs to be produced after CRF fund allocated
• 80 very different plans
• Cant evaluate success until deliver plans

17. Challenges emerge.....
EA info
Catchment Plans gathering to
to be with DEFRA determine
why rivers failing
22 Dec 2012
Result?……….
• ‘Incomplete’ plans - Work in progress
• Defra reviewing CPs that were unable to use
all the data.

18. The Wandle Catchment Plan
Two pronged approach
1. Public engagement
– Very important on Urban Rivers
2. Technical advisory group
– EA, water companies, Universities,
Wildlife trusts etc...

19. The Wandle approach
What are we What is wrong How can we
aiming for ? Currently? improve things?
Technical
strand
Turn evidence
GEP Data analysis
into plans
Analysis and
A vision for all Evidence •Balancing needs
reporting
-Linking WFD based •Produce a plan!
to reality! assessment
Community
strand
What want Wandle Current problems? What could
to look like? we do?

20. Challenges…
Starting point: Consultation fatigue
‘Here comes another consultation to produce
another plan to sit on another shelf!’

21. Opportunities…
New approach - Ketso kit
‘’The most fun you will ever have with WFD!’’

22. Outcomes..
– 27 community workshops
– 500 people
– 99 questionairres
– 56 different organisations

23. Challenges with GEP
GEP defined as attaining ‘near reference’ conditions
Don’t exist in urban chalkstreams!
Number of scenarios for GEP exist – which is ‘correct’?
?
Ecosystem
function ? ?
?

24. Challenges with GEP
GEP definition varies
• different points of view
• different aspirations
• money available
• time available etc…
Can be contentious!
Solution
• Use an Ecosystem Services approach
• Aim for multiple benefits not skewed to one service

25. Realism and Reaches
• GEP varies dramatically between reaches
• Urban river Survey (URS): define functional and connecting
reaches (in development)
Functional Reach Functional Reach
Connecting
reach

26. Ecosystems Approach: Multiple Benefits
E.g. Macrophytes, trees and wider river habitat
improvements.
Not just habitat and biodiversity benefits………..
• Regulating services
– Water purification
– Water regulation
– Hazard regualtion
• Provisioning services
– Provision of freshwater
• Cultural services
– Aesthetics
– Recreational services
– Educational opportunities

27. Overlap with other strategies: Multiple Benefits
•Biodiversity
•e.g. Biodiversity 2020, Mayors London Plan
•Water Resource Management
•EA Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy
•Local authoritues surface water management plans
•Water companies water resource management plans
•Health and Wellbeing
•Mayor’s london plan
•LB wandsworths Health and wellbeing board
•Planning and green Infrastructure
•All london green grid
•Local authorities local plans
•Economic Growth
•Mayor’s London Plan

28. “Someone who buys a drill, doesn’t
want a drill, they want a hole”
A plan needs to be
a tool to deliver action
People don’t care about WFD or GEP but
meaningful benefits.

29. So now what?
Staked our reputation on delivering the CP
‘We will deliver, we have government
support and backing’
Lose good will of the community if don't
deliver meaningful benefits

30. An Uncertain Future?
• Will Defra support the delivery of CPs?
• Mixed messages
• no real concrete information
• Defra working things out – could take time
But what happens in the waiting period?

31. An Uncertain Future?
No further funding from Defra for WFD (?)
‘Enough money out there currently’
However….
• Lots of different pots
• Specific focus e.g. community, heritage etc..
• Not multiple benefits
• Some funds require lot of work e.g. HLF
• Many can’t be used for WFD targets

32. An Uncertain Future?
Will CPs be incorporated into RBMPs?
• CPs have no real legal status on their own
(People only do what they have to!)
• Aspirational; if incorporated could result in
requirement to fund?
• Cherry pick outcomes form the plans?

33. A request to Defra and the EA!
• Make a decision quickly
• Follow through with funding
• 3rd Sector groups can’t wait around
– Lose momentum
– Lose trust of community and local stakeholders
– Turn attention elsewhere to survive
– Financial difficulties
Wandle Trust has funding for WFD delivery till 2015 but
many other 3rd sector groups not in this situation

34. WFD Delivery by the Wandle Trust
• Sample of current ongoing WFD projects
– Scale, type, variety
• Sample of completed projects

35. Current Wandle Trust WFD Projects
1. Silt/run off reduction (Carshalton waterbody)
2. Water quality – SUDS (LBS)
3. Hydraulic modelling – identify new projects, Increase
WT capacity (modelling expertise)
4. Fish passage and habitat enhancements (Wandle,
Carshalton waterbody, Hogsmill, Beverley Brook,
Cray)
5. Self sustaining wild trout populations (South London
chalk streams)
6. Pollution monitoring (Wandle)

36. Wandle Projects
•Wandle - WFD fail for fish
•Two waterbodies
•Carshalton waterbody
•Main Wandle
(Croydon to Thames)

37. Hydraulic modelling
Carshalton feasibility study -
major weir removal
Waterbody and designs
(Connectivity)
Hydrodynamic silt traps
(Water quality, silt)
Gravel introduction
(habitat,
geomorphology)
Channel narrowing
Marginal wetlands
(habitat,
Hydromorphology)

38. Phased plan of works over last 4 years
• Fish passage
and habitat

40. Where are we now?

41. Where are we now?

42. Real benefits!

43. Hackbridge: big opportunities in an urban area
• 3 weirs
• 1.6Km of river
• Heavily populated
• Flood risk area

44. The weirs

45. Opportunities
3 weirs removed
Wetland creation
River narrowing
Gravel introduction
Backwater

46. Catchment Scale Opportunities
•Hogsmill River
•11Km long
•WFD fail (fish and
inverts)
•Catchment scale
restoration opportunity!
•15 obstructions along
11km
•All will be addressed

47. ..& challenges
Gauging weir
Ancient monument
150m concrete channel , 3 weirs Concrete channel under A3

48. Footpath-
Weir and Bridge footings
revetments
(100m apart)
Solution: Rock ramp
c.f. Arborfield

49. Pollution Monitoring
• EA receive ~2 – 3 minor (Category 3) incidents on
the Wandle each week
• EA cannot always attend quickly enough to catch the
pollution
• Collaborative Pilot programme with EA
• Pollution Assessment Volunteers

50. Procedure Summary
Contact
Volunteer
Environment Agency Wandle Trust (PAV)
(SPOC)
Response Volunteer assesses pollution

51. Benefits
• Faster response
• Efficient and effective EA response
• Identify trends and problem sites
• Saves taxpayers money
Citizen Science
• WT Support the volunteers
• EA get accurate information
• Empowers the local community
• Increases skills of local community
• Effective volunteer response

52. Conclusions
• Rivers Trusts
– Ideally set up to deliver WFD
• Wandle Trust
– Effective delivery built on collaborative,
community focused, science driven principles.
• WFD
– Not perfect
– Many challenges but also opportunities
– Uncertainties ahead
Message for Defra and EA: Act quickly, keep the
momentum going and support delivery

53. Thankyou!