January 2023

Message from the Chair

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2023, and best wishes to you all for a successful 12 months.

The Catchment Partnership team is now up to full strength, with Jack now joining Zoe and Jude, and so we are hopefully in a good place to facilitate even more work in the catchment.

It is great to see the number of community projects already being supported. The potential for further community action to improve our water environment is huge. We will be looking to provide clarity on where communities can be of greatest help, and we also will be asking what help communities need to get more involved. The projects below are a great example of what is possible.

Let’s see just how much we can achieve in 2023.

Richard Cresswell
Chair BACP

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Welcome Jack - Our new Catchment Partnership Officer

Jack Bishop joined the Bristol Avon Catchment Partnership at the start of this month and is excited to be working collaboratively with the Partnership.

Jack joined us from the University of Liverpool where he was working on a PhD focused on methane emissions from urban waterways. Before this Jack worked as a NERC Network administrator at the University of Birmingham with a focus on air quality for vulnerable groups and citizen science. Jack is passionate about improving and enhancing blue and green spaces for the benefit of the environment, ecology and the communities who use them.

To start Jack will be working on the Catchment Partnership Fund and its management, alongside working on an update of our GIS maps and data to allow a better understanding and spatial awareness of the pressures and opportunities in the catchment.

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Successful Community Fund Projects

We are very pleased to announce there were 6 successful bids to the Bristol Avon Catchment Partnership Community Fund at the end of last year. The Community Fund, launched in 2022, is targeted at providing small grants to community groups for carrying out projects aligned with the BACP aims and objectives. The fund will now continue running in parallel to the Catchment Partnership Fund. The projects funded are:

Water Voles and Otters in the River Trym (Trout in the Trym)
Stoke Park Dew Pond Restoration (Stoke Park Community Group) - see recent blog post by Mayor of Bristol
Eastwood Farm Signage Phase 1 (Friends Eastwood Farm)
WaterSpace- Community Action for the River (WaterSpace Volunteers)
Finding The Way - Colliter’s Brook Map Project (Friends of Colliter’s Brook)
Friends of the Upper Frome (Friends of the Upper Frome)

(Image from Magnificent Marden Project)

We will be providing updates and further detail on these projects over the coming months. We are very excited to see what each project delivers, and to be working alongside the community groups involved.

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News from around the Catchment

WaterSpace Connected Project

WaterSpace has recently produced a video discussing their WaterSpace Connected Project, which aims to improve and enhance the River Avon for both wildlife and the community. To watch the video, visit YouTube here.

Severn Estuary Spring Clean

The Severn Estuary Partnership will be hosting their annual Severn Estuary Spring Clean event from 17^th March to 2^nd April. The event encourages the public to get out and clean their local coastline while engaging with local beach groups, local authorities and partner organisations. More information on dates and locations will be available soon from their website and through social media (@SevernEstuary).

Severn Estuary Blue Care Guide

The Severn Estuary Partnership has produced their "Blue Care Guide", promoting recreational activity in the Severn Estuary. It includes information on safety, recommended visit times and activities to take part in, amongst much more. The guide covers Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire with the Bristol Avon Catchment.

Friends of Portbury Wharf - New Year's Resolution

The Friends of Portbury Wharf are calling on the community to make protecting the local salt marsh their New Year’s resolution. The SSSI has seen increased people traffic, damaging the marsh, and impairing its ability to provide key services to our environment. The community are being asked to enjoy the marsh from near the sea wall, along with following sustainable access advice. The marsh recovery will be monitored over the coming months and years by volunteers. More information is available here.

(Image of Severn Bridge, Photo Credit: Dave Jones, Wessex Water)

News from further afield

Flood Risk Management Plans

The Environment Agency has released their final publication of the Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs), 2021-2027. FRMPs are strategic plans that aim to address river, sea, and surface water flooding across different areas of the country.

EA Natural Flood Management Programme: Evaluation Report

The Environment Agency has published a final report for their Natural Flood Management Programme, which ran from 2017 through 2021. It involved funding 60 pilot projects across the country, with the aim to helps reduce flood and coastal erosion risk through a range of catchment and community scale activities.

(Image of flooded riverscape. Photo Credit: Dave Jones, Wessex Water)

Water Resources Management Plan

Wessex Water has published a draft of their next Water Resources Management Plan, due 2024, and is ready for consultation. The plan sets out how Wessex Water intends to continue the supply of water for customers, whilst also conserving and protecting the environment.

River Basin Management Plans

The Environmental Agency’s updated River Basin Management Plans have been officially signed off by Environment Secretary, Thérèse Coffey. The RBMPs are legally binding and set out how organisations, stakeholders and communities will work together to protect and improve the water environment.

New government legislation to encourage mini wetlands

Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) have embraced the implementation of new government legislation that will encourage the creation of mini wetlands, such as rain gardens and ponds, helping to prevent flooding and enhance wetland biodiversity on new developments.

Launch of the National Green Infrastructure Framework by Natural England

On Tuesday 31^st January, Natural England are hosting an online webinar for the launch of the national Green Infrastructure Framework. It will take place from 10am to 11:30am, and is a free event. Reserve your spot here.

2023 River Restoration Centre Conference early-bird booking

On the 19^th & 20^th April 2023, the River Restoration Centre are hosting their annual network conference in Birmingham. Early-bird booking is now available until 20^th February.

Valuing Rivers in the era of climate and nature crises

Stuart Orr, the WWF Global Freshwater Lead, has produced this blog post following COP27. The article argues the prioritisation of land and sea biomes has been a detriment to nature, and to halt its loss requires giving freshwater biomes the same attention as land and sea.