Downloads

Below are information sheets on national policy and strategic items of interest to Trusts. The aim is to help you all quickly and easily get to grips with National issues and highlight where you, as local Trusts and groups, might be in a position to benefit or influence.

Pitt Review of 2007 Floods (Cabinet Office)
Landscape scale management highlighted

The Pitt Review was started after the devastating 2007 floods experienced by parts of the UK. It looks at the causes, response and aftermath of the floods and makes 92 recommendations to Government how improvements can be made. The review is obviously heavily focussed on flooding and the response to flooding therefore the impact on Trust work is likely to be low. However, the recommendations contain some useful hooks which it worth being aware of in dealings with local authorities, the EA and others in light of the potential for trusts to reduce surface water flooding and reach different sectors of the community.

File Format: Adobe Acrobat
File Size: 141kb
Download: Pitt Review key points for Rivers Trusts

Catchment Sensitive Farming (Defra)
Phase 2 brings 10 new ‘Strategic Partnership’ opportunities for catchment-scale work

ARB attended this meeting at DEFRA (Ergon House) on 7th May 2008. The meeting was chaired by Patrice Mongelard (DEFRA). Interesting schemes that could be used by Trusts to access information and training (LEAF, Think Soils) also opportunities for Trusts to become involved in CSF through Strategic Partnerships.

File Format: Adobe Acrobat
File Size: 160kb
Download: CSF Stakeholder meeting report

Future Water Strategy (Defra)
Strong endorsement of catchment management as a method of reducing diffuse pollution

The Strategy builds closely on the Blueprint for Water’s 10 steps to Sustainable Water (www.blueprintforwater.co.uk) although this is not referenced it follows some of the key themes of that campaign (Value Water, price water fairly, stop pollutants, support water friendly farming, make polluters pay, clean up drainage from roads and buildings, retain water on floodplains and wetlands etc.) It seems to provide a good link in for the sort of work Rivers Trusts do at the catchment scale, though much of the focus is on demand management and price setting rather than resource management.

File Format: Adobe Acrobat
File Size: 93kb
Download: Future Water Summary of Key points

State of the Natural Environment report (Natural England )
Open Water the most threatened habitat in England

The full document is over 300 pages long so these points are as condensed as possible. Page numbers are given to allow you to find out more about context and related information. Sections 3.7 and 3.8 deal with Open Waters and Wetlands respectively and are of particular interest to Trusts. AT the end of every section there is an estimation of the ‘economic value’ of whatever is being discussed. This gives some useful quotes on values and methods of calculation that could support Trust funding applications.

File Format: Adobe Acrobat
File Size: 93kb
Download: State of the Natural Environment - key points for Trust

The following presentations or documents were prepared during ART’s U.TdR Project, which was part funded under the Interreg IIIC programme. They can be can be freely downloaded for non-commercial purposes with due acknowledgement of the original authors, U.TdR, Interreg IIIC and ART.

ACA Yearbook 2005
The following link provides a copy of the article prepared by ART for publication in the ACA’s 2005 Yearbook. It covers the development of the rivers trust movement in England & Wales , and at that stage, some general publicity for the U.TdR project. Appx 19 - ACA Yearbook 2005 article.

Field Visits to the Eden , Tweed and Tyne : Oct 2006
The field visits taking place on the last two days of the International Salmonid Conference were hosted by the Tweed Foundation, Eden Rivers Trust and the recently formed Tyne Rivers Trust on their respective rivers. Delegates saw salmon and sea trout being tagged for research on the Tweed , the EA’s Kielder hatchery, fish research traps and counter on the Tyne and habitat restoration and use of underwater “ROV” cameras used for education on the Eden . The field visits were supported with extensive notes of the work being undertaken on the 3 catchments, including a fascinating historical fisheries’ perspective of the Tweed catchment, which are available by clicking on the following link - Appx 44 Field Visits to the Eden,Tweed and Tyne.

Political & Media Contacts Database
For publicity purposes, one of the difficulties in disseminating information, particularly on a European scale, is to target those media contacts and politicians who are most interested in the water environment. Accordingly, under the U.TdR Project ART commissioned the preparation of a media contacts database, which includes Members of the European Parliament by country, European Newsletters/Journals, Press contacts for European Parliament Committees, European Commission Press & Communication contacts, the Council of the EU and the European Commissioners. The full database is available by clicking on the following link Appx 24 Political & Media Contacts Database.

Surveying - Rapid Assessment of River Environments (R.A.R.E.)
Eden Rivers Trust has successfully pioneered the R.A.R.E. method for river basin planning and risk/work targeting. With limited resources it is imperative for cost effectiveness that work is targeted on the most vulnerable areas of a river basin. The R.A.R.E. technique, using aerial surveying, allows priority areas to be quickly identified on a structured basis. ART believes that this method, used in conjunction with its favoured community bottom up approach, can provide a template for all river basins that cannot be easily and quickly be covered by a walk-over survey. A presentation on R.A.R.E., given to Expo Rome in November 2006, is available by clicking on the following link Appx 47 RARE: Rome 2006. ART also commissioned Eden Rivers Trust to prepare a practical guide of the technique, which is available by clicking on the following link Appx 46 - Rapid Assessment of River Environments.

UK World Wetlands Day: London : Feb 2005
The Power Point presentation covers river restoration issues and the broader wetland agenda, both in the UK and elsewhere, with impacts of Common Agricultural Policy reform taking place in 2005 and the advent of the Water Framework Directive. It also provides background information on the rivers trust movement in England & Wales . The presentation provided the first main opportunity to publicise U.TdR and Interreg IIIC funding support. The full presentation can be downloaded by clicking on the following link Appx 1 - UK World Wetlands Day: Feb 2005.

Other related Environment downloads are listed below:-

Appx 16 a & b - Agri-environment schemes in England

Appx 33 - Best Practice Agricultural Guidance Notes

Appx 52 - Blueprint for Water

Appx 34 - Gyrodactylus Salaris

Appx 50 - Habitats Leaflet for Farmers and Land Managers

Appx 32 - Rivers Trusts’ Improvement Projects

Appx 31 - Rivers Trusts’ Research and Studies

Appx 41c - Water Framework Directive & Ecosystem Approach: Rome Nov 2006

Appx 6 - Water Quality Monitoring

Appx 17 - Working with the Water Companies