Senior Parliamentary Affairs Associate, Ruth Chambers joins Marina Gibson in our latest Instagram Live.

“Keep up the pressure because it is the next stage that really matters…it is the implementation stage that is critical.” Ruth Chambers.

Recent months has seen tireless campaigning and powerful unity in the fight to end sewage pollution. That is to say, pressure to place a further legal duty on water companies to end their unacceptable levels of sewage pollution.

In this InstaLive, River Action’s Advisory member, Ruth Chambers, offers expert insights and explanation on the pingpong that took place in Parliament during discussions of amendment to the Environment Bill. In addition Ruth explains, how this all started, what changes have been made and, what is expected and needed moving forward.

Check out the Live to hear for yourself!

 

Join us for River Action’s next Instagram Live – @RiverActionUK

 

 

PAST EVENTS:

23rd September 2021 – George Monbiot, award-winning writer and journalist

12th August 2021 – Amy Slack, Head of Campaigns & Policy at Surfers Against Sewage

21st July 2021- Ashley Smith, Founder of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution 

18th June 2021 – Feargal Sharkey, Environmental Campaigner

11th May 2021 – Charles Watson, Chairman and Founder, River Action UK 

For the first time, one of the major poultry producers admits to “being part of the problem”

 

On the 27^{th of} September the Wye Nutrient Management Board convened for one of its regular sessions. Created to try and find a common solution to the horrendous phosphate pollution crisis which has  the River Wye in recent years, the Board includes representatives from: the river catchment’s County Councils; the farming community; Natural England, the Environment Agency & Natural Resources Wales; the construction industry; the Wye & Usk Foundation and many of the NGOs across the catchment who have been campaigning to save the river. The latter includes the Radnorshire and Hereford Wildlife Trusts, The Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales and the Friends of the Upper Wye.

These meetings (taking place on Zoom over the last 18 months) have been described by their many critics as talking shops, which tend to go over the same old agenda month in, month out. Indeed, the lack of any progress by the Nutrient Management Board in agreeing any positive way forward has been seen by some as almost scandalous as, with another summer of algal blooms having passed by, the state of the river only deteriorates further.

Then on Monday 27^th something potentially significant happened. John Reed, Head of Agriculture at Avara Foods, was asked to address the Board. Avara, a £1.2 billion agri-business, is one of the UK’s leading poultry suppliers and supplies poultry products to all the major UK supermarkets and restaurant chains from its Hereford processing plant (the biggest employer in the county).

Avara has been subject to considerable criticism (including from River Action) for its role in the river pollution crisis. Almost 14 million of the 20 million chickens which are believed to be produced across the Wye river catchment are directly controlled by Avara’s supply chain. Whilst they are reared in sheds which have concrete standings, historically the huge quantities of manure these birds produce (estimated by Avara to be c.150,000 tons per year) get spread across the land of the catchment. Recent work carried out by the University of Lancaster is indicating an unquestionable over-saturation of phosphates in the soils of the Wye Valley – which in turn will inevitably run off into the river. Together with the big free range egg producers such as Noble Foods there is a growing body of evidence that these major poultry producers are the key cause for the pollution crisis facing the river.

However, at the latest Nutrient Management meeting Board Avara openly acknowledged that they were indeed “part of the problem” regarding the pollution of the river – and therefore need to be “part of the solution”. Accordingly, it was announced that the company is currently in the final stages of evaluating a range of major initiatives to remove its chicken manure from the catchment. These included using it as a fuel source for generating renewable energy, incinerating it into ash and biochar that can be easily transported to parts of the country that need phosphate-based fertiliser for arable farming – and treating it via new (not yet public) anaerobic digester-based technology. The company also indicated that it was looking at ways of importing less phosphate into the catchment within its chicken feed in the first place. Avara confirmed that if these initiatives went ahead, then all its chicken manure would be exported out of the valley.

The company was subjected to extensive questioning on the timescale and financial backing for these initiatives.. Here there were no firm answers – with confidentiality agreements and the speed by which planning consents to build the necessary facilities would be granted by the local council – being cited as the cause for this uncertainty. Indeed, many of the NGOs who listened to the presentation expressed considerable scepticism afterwards about the company’s claims due to this lack of detail.

However, if Avara really is genuine regarding these intentions, and if the other major poultry producers are prepared to follow their lead – then we might have just witnessed the first ray of hope of how the pollution crisis of the Wye might be solved. River Action is now engaged directly with the major poultry producers, including Avara, and will be pressing hard for time and investment commitments to be announced as soon as possible. But if what we heard last Monday really is a genuine and deliverable commitment, then it will have our wholehearted support.

If it is not, then we will be returning to the campaign trail against the poultry agri-businesses with vigour, as we will do if the County Councils procrastinate over fast tracking planning permission to build these much-needed facilities.

A YouTube recording of the Nutrient Management Board meeting can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEuzyiK0vBY

The section during which Avara speak is at 0.04.54. This is followed at 0.40.27 by another interesting presentation from Gamber, a logistics company which gives an overview on the task of exporting the chicken waste out of the river catchment.

We were excited to see the launch of the The Woodlands For Water project this week. Beaver Trust in collaboration with the Woodland Trust, The Rivers Trust and The National Trust and supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), will be working on projects to restore our rivers. The project is focused on incentivising landowners to plant trees. This is a big step towards restoring nature along our rivers. According to James Wallace, River Action advisory board member and CEO of Beaver Trust, “Collaboration between Government, industry, landowners, communities, and the NGO sector is key if we are to help communities build resilience to the climate and the ecological emergency”.

Watch the video here and read more about this unique collaboration below.

Riverbanks and watercourses to be planted with thousands of hectares of new woodland to improve water quality and biodiversity

• New project to plant extensive new woodlands along England’s riverbanks launched today
• Tree planting along rivers will help manage flood risks and boost biodiversity
• Launch marks next step in government’s England Trees Action Plan to treble tree planting rates and build back greener

Over 3,000 hectares of new woodlands are set to be planted along England’s rivers and watercourses with backing from the country’s leading environmental organisations, Forestry Minister Lord Goldsmith announced today (Saturday 25 September).

Planting trees on and around riverbanks, or allowing them to grow naturally, can help to improve water quality by blocking the runoff of pollutants into rivers, manage flood risks by slowing the flow of water, boost biodiversity by creating new habitat corridors and make our rivers more climate resilient by providing shade and cooling water temperatures. There are 242,262km of watercourses in England, and it is hoped that by planting trees in this way they will form a natural network of habitats across the country as part of our plans to expand, improve and connect these places across our towns, cities and countryside.

The ‘Woodlands for Water’ project aims to create 3,150 hectares of trees in six river catchment areas from Devon to Cumbria by March 2025. To support farmers and landowners to create these woodlands, they will be able to apply for funding through the ‘England Woodland Creation Offer’ grant which provides greater financial incentives for landowners and farmers to plant and manage trees, including along rivers and watercourses.

Speaking from a National Trust river tree planting project, Forestry Minister Lord Goldsmith said:

“This is a hugely exciting and untapped area for woodland creation. The benefits of planting trees by rivers are vast – from helping biodiversity recover by creating more natural riverbanks; to slowing the flow of surface water to reduce the risk of flooding; and improving water quality by buffering rivers from harmful agricultural pollution.

“The Government is committed to trebling tree-planting rates by the end of this parliament, and in this vitally important year for tackling climate change with the Glasgow COP summit, this partnership marks an important next step in our plans to build back greener.”

Forestry Commission Chair Sir William Worsley said:

“I am delighted to be working with partners to launch the Woodlands for Water project and deliver another major part of the England Trees Action Plan.

“By putting the right trees in the right place, helped by our new England Woodland Creation Offer, the Woodlands for Water project can offer numerous benefits, from creating new woodland habitats; protecting existing habitats such as chalk streams; improving environments for fish by reducing water temperature, and helping rivers adapt to climate change.”

Supported by Defra, the project will be carried out by the ‘Riverscapes’ Partnership comprising of experts from the Rivers Trust, National Trust, Woodland Trust and Beaver Trust, which will be on hand to provide expert assistance in the selected river catchment areas across England, ensuring there is pipeline of projects for riparian planting in future years.

 

The Rivers Trust Chief Executive Officer Mark Lloyd said:

“The Riverscapes Partnership brings together leading national organisations who want to revive our rivers, restore nature and increase our resilience to droughts and floods. Woodlands for Water is a very exciting first project for the partnership to work with Defra to meet the government’s targets on tree planting and its commitment to leave the environment in a better state for the next generation. By planting the right trees in the right places, we can tackle multiple problems and provide multiple benefits: more nature, less flooding, more carbon locked up in trees and soils, fewer droughts, less pollution, more wild places for people to enjoy. We hope that this project will be the pathfinder for a route map to the revival of rivers and their catchment areas that can benefit every corner of England, and the rest of the UK.”

 

The Woodland Trust Head of Landscape Scale Delivery Dr. Adrian Southern said:

 

“We are delighted to be part of what is an immensely important project, both from a combating climate change perspective with more trees but also for showing how it is essential they are planted in the right places. Tree establishment near rivers and in their catchments can have significant benefits for people and wildlife, from natural flood management to stabilising riverbanks and reducing sediment flow into water courses, to creating great places for people to enjoy. This commitment from DEFRA could be catalytic in supporting the Riverscapes partnership to start to really deliver the transformational change needed to meet the threats of climate change and wildlife loss.”

 

The National Trust Director of Land & Nature Harry Bowell said:

 

“With 90 per cent of UK floodplains ‘not fit for purpose’ and creating flood issues for communities, we fully recognise the value of trees to our river corridors in helping to slow flood waters, soak up carbon and keep rivers cool in the face of rising temperatures. This work will enhance the projects we already have underway where our primary focus has been the conservation and health of the river channel itself. This partnership and funding will allow us to look at the wider river corridor to further enhance this work.”

 

James Wallace, Beaver Trust Chief Executive Officer said:

 

“As members of the Riverscapes partnership with Defra we are delighted to be a part of this first big first step towards paying farmers to create a nature recovery network of mosaic habitats along our rivers, working together to breathe life back into our land. We hope in time farmers will be incentivised not only to plant trees but to create wetlands, floodplain meadows and other spaces for natural processes and wildlife to regenerate in riparian buffer zones. Collaboration between Government, industry, landowners, communities, and the NGO sector is key if we are to help communities build resilience to the climate and the ecological emergency. The Riverscapes partnership looks forward to helping engage the farming community, connecting landowners with each other and much-needed public money, and developing systemic solutions like blended finance, empowering rapid change in how we manage our rivers and land.”

 

Today’s announcement is a key action of the recently published England Trees Action Plan which outlined the Government’s strategy to get more trees in the ground that will help to deliver wide ranging benefits for nature, climate and people, and contributes towards the commitment to treble planting rates in England by the end of this Parliament.

 

ENDS.