We
received a report regarding the commencement of the Restoring Our
Amazing River (ROAR) Water Environment Grant (WEG) project with the
Wye & Usk Foundation, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and
Herefordshire Rural Hub.
In
doing so, the following information was noted:
·
The Wye & Usk Foundation, working with
Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, Herefordshire Rural Hub and the Wye
Valley AONB Unit, submitted an application for the Water
Environment Grant (WEG) entitled Restoring Our Amazing River
(ROAR).
·
The WEG scheme is competitive and a bid for
£1.2million covering the English part of the Wye Catchment
was submitted in May 2018.
·
The ROAR project was finally approved in June 2019
with a grant of £672,000 until March 2021.
·
The ROAR project includes additional farm Catchment
Advisors across the English part of the Wye Catchment.
·
Two advisors, covering the English part of the Wye
Valley AONB and the adjacent Garren
& Gamber catchment, will be
employed by the Wye & Usk Foundation and hosted by the AONB
Unit.
Having received the report, the following points were
noted:
- The
main emphasis of the project is located within Herefordshire and on
the main tributaries of the River Wye.
However, there are tangential benefits for
Gloucestershire.
- The
AONB Unit had intended to undertake an assessment of the floodplain
within the project. Unfortunately, this
element was written out of the bid leading to very little
monitoring of outcomes.
- The
project will support the objective of the National Grid Landscape
Enhancement Initiative (LEI) scheme to reduce the landscape and
visual impact of National Grid’s existing electricity
infrastructure and enhance the quality of the affected designated
landscapes. The National Grid is undertaking undergrounding works
across four areas within the UK. £25M was available for all
National Parks and AONBs across the UK for undergrounding and
mitigation works. Lines within the AONB were placed 13th
on the list of potential undergrounding works.
- The
River Wye is used by Welsh Water and Severn Trent Water for water
extraction to be used for drinking water. There are monitoring stations at Redbrook. Due to new
extraction rates, there should be more water flowing down the River
Wye than in previous years.
- It
was noted the River Wye had remained brown for periods and it was
not clear what was causing this effect.
It was noted that exceptional rainfall and runoff might have
contributed to this situation.
- Concern was expressed that the integrity of the River was
becoming compromised due to drought and water extraction for
irrigation of land. The quantity of water flowing down the river
has an effect on water quality and biodiversity. However, it was noted that extraction of water
licences can be revoked by the Environment Agency in times of
drought.
- There has been large scale investment in irrigation
reservoirs. However, issues regarding
the planning process for these reservoirs have delayed progress in
some instances.
- There has been a major review of the implementation of water
extraction licences over previous years which had led to changes
being implemented to ensure more water is able to flow down the
River Wye.
- The
Joint Advisory Committee agreed that the AONB Manager invites a
representative from the Environment Agency to attend the next
meeting in November 2019 to discuss water extraction from the River
Wye.
We
resolved:
(i)
to welcome the collaboration with the Wye & Usk
Foundation, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and Herefordshire Rural
Hub through the Restoring Our Amazing River (ROAR) Water
Environment Grant (WEG) project;
(ii)
that the AONB Manager invites a representative from the Environment
Agency to attend the next Joint Advisory Committee meeting in
November 2019 to discuss water extraction from the River
Wye.