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1.: FW: UK >> The Catchment Based Approach Newsletter - June 2013 From: Jamie Saunders

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1.: FW: UK >> The Catchment Based Approach Newsletter - June 2013

Posted by: "Jamie Saunders" saun...@sjamie99.orangehome.co.uk jmsforesight

Fri Jun 28, 2013 2:19 am

_____

From: Bob Earll [mailto:bob.earll=coastms.co.uk@mail158.wdc02.mcdlv.net] On
Behalf Of Bob Earll
Sent: 27 June 2013 14:05
To: Jamie Saunders
Subject: The Catchment Based Approach Newsletter - June 2013

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The Catchment Based Approach Newsletter – June 2013

Dear Colleagues

This CaBA News reflects on the ending of the Pilot Phase (2011-2013) and as
importantly the next stages of the development of the Catchment Based
Approach (CaBA). We have delayed this CaBA News to be able to cover five
main points below to highlight this as well as other News. This newsletter
has been edited by Bob Earll of CMS working in partnership with CIWEM.

CONTENTS

<http://coastms.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1
&id=74904f6d0f&e=c8c38a46d9> Ministerial Announcement - June 3rd – Defra

<http://coastms.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1&
id=351918d678&e=c8c38a46d9> The Catchment Based Approach Policy Framework
Statement June 3rd Defra

<http://coastms.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1
&id=51dc060b98&e=c8c38a46d9> Catchment Partnerships and Funding – Call For
Expressions of Interest – June 22nd – Environment Agency

<http://coastms.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1&
id=c523d60c92&e=c8c38a46d9> Outcomes of the Catchment Based Approach Pilot
- Pilot Project Evaluation & Handbook – Cascade Consulting

<http://coastms.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1&
id=8aa978911d&e=c8c38a46d9> WFD - Challenges and Choices – Consultation from
the Environment Agency – June 22nd Environment Agency

<http://coastms.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1&
id=354394657e&e=c8c38a46d9> Demonstration Test Catchment

DIARY DATES
Nov 12th CIWEM Hydro-morphology and Hydropower Conference
Dec 11th CIWEM Catchment Management Conference

Ministerial Announcement - Government gives river health £1.6 million boost
A new £1.6million project to improve river health and water quality in
England has been launched by the Government today (June 3rd 2013). The new
partnership scheme, called the Catchment Based Approach, will encourage
local communities and environmental groups to take on more responsibility
for improving the health of their local rivers, as well as the surrounding
natural environment and wildlife. This follows a series of successful
regional pilots which took place across the country including the Norfolk
Coast, Bristol Avon and Poole. In Bristol, local authorities worked together
to introduce new measures to reduce the need for dredging the River Avon and
save taxpayers’ money. You can find more information on the Catchment Based
Approach at
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/river-health-gets-16-million-boost
<http://coastms.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1&
id=7181ca9661&e=c8c38a46d9>

The Catchment Based Approach Policy Framework
In February 2011, the Government signalled its belief that more locally
focussed decision making and action should sit at the heart of the debate
about the future direction of improvements to the water environment and
support river basin management planning as part of Water Framework Directive
activities. The water environment is affected by every activity that takes
place on land as well as through our actions in abstracting, using and
returning water to rivers, the sea and the ground. Catchments are the
natural scale to consider this aspect of the environment. We firmly believe
that better coordinated action is desirable at the catchment level by all
those who use water or influence land management and that this requires
greater engagement and delivery by stakeholders at the catchment as well as
local level, supported by the Environment Agency and other organisations.
This is particularly important when trying to address the significant
pressures placed on the water environment by diffuse pollution from both
agricultural and urban sources, and widespread, historical alterations to
the natural form of channels.

Engagement and collaborative working sit at the heart of a viable Catchment
Based Approach. To develop a clearer understanding of how this works in
practice, a number of pilot catchment initiatives were undertaken to develop
thinking and to identify the elements of good practice needed to support
wider adoption of the approach.

The aim of the pilots was to test the longer term viability of the approach
through developing a clear understanding of the issues in the catchment,
involvement of local communities in decision-making by sharing evidence and
to work out priorities for action. In addition, the pilots looked for
opportunities to better co-ordinate and integrate projects to address local
issues in a more cost effective way. The pilots were also important in
starting to test and assess different ways of working, learning initial
lessons around engagement, collaboration and catchment planning first hand.

The pilot and evaluation phase concluded in March 2013 and gives some
indication of how catchment level collaboration can better inform river
basin district planning2. It is also emerging as a key mechanism to better
integrate decision making and ‘on the ground’ delivery in relation to water
and the environment within a wider socio-economic context. Through the pilot
phase, progress has been encouraging and we hope that many of the groups
formed will continue their work supported by this framework. Over time, it
is expected that the approach will mature as a mechanism for ensuring that
there is strong local support, consensus, effective coordination and
efficient channelling of existing and new funding and other resources to
deliver local aspirations for the water environment.

We have not set out the detailed learning from the pilots within this
framework, although we have provided some information within the appendices,
where we think this is helpful. More detailed learning has been captured in
an Evaluation Report (see below) and Handbook* which provides further
useful guidance for existing and new catchment groups as the Catchment Based
Approach develops. [*This will be available in early July on the CC HUb -
see below].

This document sets out general information about the Catchment Based
Approach. It is intended as an initial framework to facilitate different
ways of working towards a better water environment. We are deliberately not
trying to prescribe how and when local initiatives should work, although we
have set out a range of ideas about some of the opportunities we see for
such ways of working. The framework is designed to support local action and
much of what is described sets out the ‘bridge’ between local actions and
the much larger scale actions described in River Basin Management Plans.

We are not trying to define all the processes and activities needed to make
the Catchment Based Approach work. We believe that these should be local
decisions wherever possible, to make sure that the approach works in the
best way to deliver local priorities. We believe that the approach will
develop over time and the mechanisms that will be developed to support this
are set out in Section
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/catchment-based-approach-improvin
g-the-quality-of-our-water-environment
<http://coastms.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1&
id=e21d5e038c&e=c8c38a46d9> .

Catchment Partnerships and Funding
On 3 June 2013, Defra launched a policy framework for a catchment based
approach to the management of the water environment. I am writing to you
to let you know that the Environment Agency has now published details of the
funds that are available to support those groups and organisations that wish
to host a catchment partnership. This information can be found at
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/planning/148312.aspx
<http://coastms.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1&
id=763fddb7a7&e=c8c38a46d9> , and includes guidance on what the fund is for,
who may be eligible, and how to apply. The deadline for submission of
expressions of interest is 29 July 2013.

Please note, to enable us to monitor adoption of the approach we are seeking
expressions of interest from both:
• Eligible organisations seeking funding to host a new or existing
catchment partnership
• Organisations not seeking funding, but still wishing to host a new or
existing catchment partnership

David Baxter Head of Catchment Management Environment Agency

Evaluation of the pilot phase - David Corbelli and Clare Black (Cascade
Consulting)
Defra commissioned a team led by Cascade Consulting (in association with
eftec, Yvonne Rees and Collingwood Environmental Planning) to undertake an
independent review of the pilot phase of the catchment based approach. The
team worked alongside Government, stakeholders and communities, collating
information provided by the pilot partnerships, and gathered views from all
involved about what worked well, and what could be done better. This
project, which began in December 2011, has now drawn to an end, and an
overview of key outputs with links to the main reports is provided below.
We would like to offer our thanks to all the pilot hosts and participants
who were involved in the evaluation and the hard work they put in to share
their experiences with ourselves and others.

Final evaluation reports – The findings and recommendations from this
evaluation work have now been published in a detailed evaluation report and
summary document which can be found on the Catchment Change Management Hub
via the link:

http://ccmhub.net/case-studies/pilot-catchment-evaluation/evaluating-the-cat
chment-based-approach/
<http://coastms.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1&
id=f2b3ab5d15&e=c8c38a46d9>

Development of the Handbook – to complement the Evaluation Report, the
evaluation team are developing a handbook as a “how to” guide for catchment
management which will translate the learning coming out of the pilot phase
into useful guidance and reference materials for others looking to set up
and run catchment-based initiatives from 2013. This has been drafted and is
currently being reviewed ahead of publication on the CCM Hub in early July.

Development of the Catchment Change Management Hub – the initial design
phase of the CCM Hub has now been completed and a report has been produced
which sets out the progress to date, feedback received from stakeholders and
members of the public, and suggested activities for future development. A
copy of the report is available here:
http://ccmhub.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/CCM-Hub-Report-Issued-2.pdf .
The CCM Hub team are now looking at options to continue the work of the Hub
to support catchment managers and other interested groups through the
transition to wider adoption of the catchment based approach.

Find out more
For more details of our work, please contact us on:
catchmentpilots@cascadeconsulting.co.uk

WFD – Challenges and Choices Consultation
The Environment Agency are developing Water Framework Directive second cycle
river basin management plans that will cover the period 2015 to 2021. These
plans will describe what businesses, water users and other organisations
will need to do to protect and improve the water environment. The river
basin management plans describe what needs to be done to protect and improve
the water environment. The river basin management plans are for everyone,
and everyone can contribute. ‘Challenges and choices’ reviews and discusses
the latest information and data that we have on the significant issues
affecting the water environment at a local, river basin district and
national level. You can provide your views on a specific issue, such as
pollution, or river flows, or you can provide views on your local water
environment, or for England as a whole. To ensure the river basin
management plans properly consider all aspects of the environment, the
Environment Agency is carrying out a strategic environmental assessment of
each plan and there is also a consultation on how we propose to approach
this task. This consultation runs alongside each river basin district
‘Challenges and choices’ consultation. The formal closing date for
responses to the Challenges and choices consultation is 22 December 2013.
But if you can send them earlier than this, it would be very helpful for us.
You can respond in writing, on-line, at a meeting or at one of the events we
will be holding around the country.

You can find the Challenges and choices consultation at
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/planning/33252.aspx
<http://coastms.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1&
id=89191861f7&e=c8c38a46d9>

The Demonstration Test catchment Programme – Bob Harris

Catchment Management is a process of decision making and action involving
multiple interests and actors aimed at integrating the different uses of
land, water and related environmental resources. This process is informed by
scientific knowledge and other forms of expertise, and shaped by political
goals, economic needs and social values. Catchment management is an
important approach for achieving long-term sustainability since particular
types and combinations of ecosystem services will result from the decisions
and actions taken.

Demonstration Test Catchment (DTC) is a UK government-funded project
designed to provide robust evidence regarding how diffuse pollution can be
cost-effectively controlled to improve and maintain water quality in rural
river catchment areas.

The national DTC web site represents a key focal point to allow knowledge to
be exchanged among all those who have an interest in diffuse pollution
management. It represents a space for sharing evidence and learning within
the national DTC community itself, in addition to encouraging wider
international sharing of best practice.

By adopting an open and transparent approach to catchment research, the aim
is to generate a collective understanding of diffuse pollution and a shared
commitment to taking practical and cost-effective action. This type of
collaborative approach offers the best prospects for managing land and water
in a balanced way, protecting valuable ecosystem services and ensuring the
long-term sustainability

http://www.demonstratingcatchmentmanagement.net/
<http://coastms.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a477eb8cd0fd95c25563618a1&
id=489c2d5b20&e=c8c38a46d9>

DIARY DATES

November 12th CIWEM Hydro-morphology & Hydropower CIWEM Conference
London
Hydro-morphology represents the second biggest challenge to good status in
relation to WFD; this conference will explore the issues as well as the
interaction with the growth of hydropower on our rivers.
For details contact Bob Earll bob.earll@coastms.co.uk

December 11th CIWEM Conference - Catchment Management CIWEM Conference
London This conference will look at catchment management – water and land
use – in relation to delivering objectives across the water sector.
For details contact Bob Earll bob.earll@coastms.co.uk

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