Background to the Wandle Trust/SERT & the Wandle Catchment Plan • Development of the Wandle Vision & Catchment Plan • Project Delivery • Next steps

1. The CaBA Learning Workshop
Case Study
The Wandle Catchment Plan and
its Delivery
19th February 2014
Dr Bella Davies
Wandle Trust / South East Rivers Trust

2. Summary
• Background to the Wandle Trust/SERT &
the Wandle Catchment Plan
• Development of the Wandle Vision &
Catchment Plan
• Project Delivery
• Next steps

3. Wandle Catchment
© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. London Borough of Sutton. 100008655X. (2009)
• South London
• 23 km; 200 km2; ~1 million
• HMWB - flood; urban (x2)

4. The River Wandle
“the best and clearest stream near
London” (Sir Humphry Davy, 1828)

5. The River Wandle

6. The Wandle Trust: Who We Are
• Mid-1990s: volunteer group of concerned local
residents and anglers
• 2000-2: became a company & charity
• 2006: ‘Wandle Trust’
• 2007/8 a new era:
i. A Rivers Trust
ii. Began more restoration work
iii. Pollution; compensation = staff + Catchment Plan
• 2013: South East Rivers Trust
“An environmental charity dedicated to restoring
and maintaining the health of rivers across south
east England”

7. The South East Rivers Trust: Who We Are
• Mid-1990s: volunteer group of concerned local
residents and anglers
• 2000-2: became a company & charity
• 2006: ‘Wandle Trust’
• 2007/8 a new era:
i. A Rivers Trust
ii. Began more restoration work
iii. Pollution; compensation = staff + Catchment Plan
• 2013: South East Rivers Trust
“An environmental charity dedicated to restoring
and maintaining the health of rivers across south
east England”

8. Development of the Wandle CP
• Quite a long history – 2008 onwards
• Can’t rush the process – gain trust, discuss, investigate
• Part of the journey rather than the goal; iterative process
• Needed funding
• Began ‘selling’ the idea (2009/10) so people were on
board when Catchment Pilot concept announced – £5k
• Set up a Steering Group (2011) to help guide the process
LB Wandsworth, LB Merton, LB Sutton, LB Croydon,
Environment Agency, Natural England, National Trust
(MHP), WVRP Trust, Beddington Farmlands, LWT,
WWF-UK, Angling Trust, Thames Water, Sutton &
East Surrey Water, The Rivers Trust

9. Development of the Wandle CP
• Whilst developing, ensured undertook delivery of ‘no
brainers’ & emerging issues
• Shows things are being done
• Gives people the opportunity to get further involved
• Capitalised on opportunities for delivery, e.g. CRF
• Developed opportunities for delivery, e.g. HLF LPS

10. Approach to the Wandle CP
• Inclusive & involving of the local community but
underpinned by science and evidence base
• Already talking about the river – WVRP Working Groups
• Setting of ‘consultation fatigue’
• Needed new engaging method to consult
• Needed to show delivery – this time it’s different
• Two stranded approach

11. What are we aiming
for?
What is wrong with the
Wandle at the moment?
How might we improve
the Wandle?
Technical
strand
What is the best the
river can achieve /
what might GEP look
like?
Analyse current available
data / work with tech specs
to ID what is currently
limiting ecological potential
of river
What would tech specs
recommend?
What does evidence
suggest will make the
biggest difference?
Analysis &
Reporting
Relate what the
community wants to
what an ideal state is
and what technically
could be achieved =
Vision
Analysis of data, technical
& local info with reference
to literature to produce an
evidence-based
assessment of current
limitations
Any conflicts between
priorities for improvement?
What’s needed at different
spatial scales?
= A Plan of what’s
needed and where
Community
strand
In an ideal world, what
would you like the river
to look like?
What and where are the
problems which are
preventing the Wandle
attaining that ideal state?
What do we need to do to
achieve our Vision? How
might the community help
deliver these actions?
Approach to the Wandle CP

12. The Wandle Catchment Plan process
• Community Consultation
• 27 workshops – ‘Ketso’ Toolkit
• Various times/locations
• 100 questionnaires
• Almost 500 people
• Over 50 groups
• Found out how people would like to get involved further
• Technical Advisory Groups
• Experts
• Topic specific
• Data collation and analysis
• Workshops; 1 to 1

13. The Wandle Vision
“A naturally functioning, self-sustaining chalk stream
rich in biodiversity and a haven for Londoners”
In the
community’s
words
Four aims...
Published
Oct 2012
Developed
from
workshops &
re-consulted

14. The Wandle Vision
1. Habitat and Wildlife: the river supports a mosaic of
habitats and high biodiversity

15. The Wandle Vision
2. Water: plentiful and clean, and varied in its flow speeds,
widths and depths

16. The Wandle Vision
3. Good access: sympathetically managed pathways
along the whole river

17. The Wandle Vision
4. Engagement: everyone in the catchment aware of the
river and knows how their actions can affect it.
Councils, businesses, government agencies and public
work together to improve the river

18. The Wandle Catchment Plan
• Focuses on ecological improvements – WFD at heart
• Access & engagement dealt with separately but projects
still help deliver
• Explores the issues with the river
• For each Aim, identifies objectives, targets & goals
Aim 1
Objective 1
Objective 2
Target 1
Target 2
Target 3
Target 4
Target 5
Goal 3
Goal 2
Goal 1 Project 1
Project 2
Project 3
• Being finalised but already out of date....
• Published document vs online?

19. The Action Plan
Aim 1: The river supports a mosaic of habitats and high biodiversity
Objective 4 – fish & fisheries: thriving populations of native fish associated
with chalk rivers are present & able to move freely
Target 4.1 Fish can move
freely throughout the entire
length of the Wandle
Goal 4.1.1 Understand all barriers to fish movement
in different flow conditions
Goal 4.1.2 Identify all obstructions that can be
removed & seek opportunities to maximise multiple
benefits (e.g. habitat improvements)
Goal 4.1.3 Where obstructions cannot be removed
(e.g. for flood control measures) identify options to
enable fish passage, e.g. technical fish pass,
bypass channel
Goal 4.1.4 Raise funds and implement options
Projects; indicative costs; crossover with other plans
Project delivery – supports (deliver) CP, move to GEP

20. Project Development: ‘Living Wandle’
• HLF LPS; £2 million
• 12 Partners, 25 projects to engage the community with the river
and help them make a difference
• Includes ‘Delivering the Wandle Catchment Plan’ – river
enhancement and restoration activities.
• Used CP process to gauge volunteering interest to develop
projects
0
10
20
30
40
50
Online responses
Paper responses

21. Project Delivery: Carshalton Water Body
• WFD – Failing for fish
• Suspected causes
• barriers – prevent movement; impoundment = silt
• poor habitat
• contaminated sediments preventing successful
recruitment
• Response
• Remove barriers where possible & restore habitat
• Ensure fish passage at remaining barriers
• Investigate silt contaminants & trap/remove if
needed

22. Project Delivery: remove barriers & restore habitat
• ‘No brainer’ - had already started

23. Project Delivery: Ensure fish passage at remaining
barriers; remove barriers; restore habitat

24. Project Delivery: Ensure fish passage at remaining
barriers; remove barriers; restore habitat
Designs by Opus
Delivery this financial year
(hopefully!)

25. Project Delivery: Investigate silt contamination
• MSc by research – QMUL
• Contributed to costs of lab analysis
• Found metal concentrations
exceeded levels at which they can
have an effect on freshwater biota
for Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn
• Found severely contaminated by
13 PAHs

26. Project Delivery: Tackle silt & associated pollutants
• Investigated surface water drains
• Silt Traps – HVC

27. Project Delivery: Tackle silt & associated pollutants
• Installation of ‘Downstream Defenders’
• First time they had been retrofitted...

28. Project Delivery: Tackle silt & associated pollutants
• Monitoring of ‘Downstream Defenders’
• Sampling sediment in DD for heavy metals & PAHs
• Upstream & Downstream chambers with auto-
samplers (TW): particle size, volume, contaminants
• Lower cost, lower tech options,
e.g. mycofiltration, Siltex

29. • Important for ‘No Deterioration’
• EA receive ~2 – 3 minor (Category 3) incidents on the
Wandle each week
• EA cannot always attend quickly enough to catch the
pollution
• Collaborative Pilot programme with EA
• Pollution Assessment Volunteers
• Training developed by WT & EA; delivered by WT
Project Delivery: Pollution Monitoring

30. Next Steps
• Put the plan online and develop update system
• Continue delivery – involve community
• Use plan to direct fundraising
• Review the structure & governance of the
Wandle Steering Group in light of CaBA &
publishing the CP
• Work with local authorities to give the CP more
weight in planning (e.g. SPG)

31. Summary
• Plan your plan & its process – don’t underestimate time
& thought required
• Consult; Listen; investigate – make sure the right
people are involved (go to them if you need)
• Be aware of current issues, e.g. floods – use as a hook
but inform yourself & know how to prevent it taking over
• Collate & digest – identify issues
• Collective planning – on what to do about the issues
including project development
• Evidence based action
• Delivery – with partners where appropriate
• Inform – everyone what you’re doing & why

32. Ketso for Catchment Planning
Workshop
• Training in how to plan & use Ketso as a tool
for catchment planning
• 7th March 2014, London
• £20 (subsidised) includes refreshments &
lunch
http://ketsoforcatchmentplanning.eventzilla.net
Thank you