Meeting the Minister for the Natural Environment
Secretary of State Hilary Benn’s decision on whether or not to approve the River Basin Management Plans draws ever closer. Meanwhile the Our Rivers campaign has shifted up a gear or two in our campaigning efforts.
The Our Rivers team recently met with the Minister for the Natural Environment, Huw Irranca-Davies MP to ask him directly what he will do to protect the rivers adopted through the campaign.
To listen to the interview with Huw Irranca-Davies go to: http://vimeo.com/8049784 or see embedded audio below.
Huw Irranca-Davies inspects the Our Rivers map on arrival at the press call
We hope that our meeting with the Minister will inspire you to meet your local MP and get them to contact Hilary Benn about the problems facing your river and the inadequacies of the Environment Agency's River Basin Plans.
Local press call with the Minister
In a final attempt to bring to light the continuing failures of the River Basin Plans to address the pressures facing our rivers before they are published, the Our Rivers campaign team organised a press call at Westminster by the River Thames.
We created a large map of all your adopted rivers and presented it to the Minister - the key man responsible for water in Hilary Benn’s Ministerial Team - to demonstrate the breadth and depth of engagement we have had from river adopters like you.
The Our Rivers campaign partners braved the cold conditions and met by Westminster bridge much to the annoyance of the lady selling miniature London buses and oversized felt Union Jack top hats.
BBC SW news crews joined the melee and recorded the event for TV and Radio.
Our Rivers photo shoot
With the photo shoot spot decided, sadly not in the Thames but within splashing distance, the Minister arrived with his entourage, right on cue. He took an immediate interest in the map, seeking to identify his own local river in the Ogmore valley.
The Minister also had a chance to meet campaign partners, and river adopters Charlotte Hitchmough from Action for the River Kennet and Bella Davies from the Wandle Trust, both looking fab in their waders!
Dr Bella Davies from the Wandle Trust and Charlotte Hitchmough from Action for the River Kennet present the Our Rivers map to Huw Irranca-Davies
Huw Irranca-Davies fields questions from the Our Rivers press officer, Nik Shelton
Interview with the Minister
After the hubbub of the photoshoot, the Minister took the time to answer some of our questions, which you can listen to below.
The Minister recognised the scale of the challenge ahead, and encouraged those who care about their local rivers to keep on lobbying him! “It’s that sort of pressure that will get us to where we need to be on this,” he said. “Local input is going to be absolutely vital.' He added that the scale of the challenge ahead was “immense” and that it would “take us onto a completely different quality standard for our rivers – quite rightly.”
Finally, before the Minister left, we presented him with a letter signed on behalf the Our Rivers campaign. The letter highlighted the top three pressures identified by you: agricultural pollution, low flow and urban and industrial pollution. It also included a plea to tackle outstanding problems affecting the water environment in the first round of River Basin Management Plans.
The event was a huge success and generated around seventy articles in local press, and was filmed by the BBC. Most importantly, the Minister seemed to recognise the challenge ahead, and was engaged and interested in what we had to say. May this translate into action. You can still lobby the Government by writing to your MP about the problems facing your local river. As the Minister said himself, he appreciates the pressure!
Director of Action for the River Kennet, Charlotte Hitchmough, puts questions to the Minister
