NT outline for wetlands at the East of Sherborne

On Wednesday I represented the Sherborne Brook Support Group at the Windrush Catchment Partnership’s quarterly meeting. I have four things to report back:

1. Andrew Danson from the NT gave a good brief outlining the potential for wetland creation towards the East of Sherborne, alongside the lower part of the Sherborne Brook and River Windrush. The attached flyer gives an outline of some of the potential of this project. This is “early days” yet, and the NT are still scoping the project - clearly the recent geophysical survey of the Romano-British settlement is an important component for consideration. Don’t expect all the ideas in the flyer to become true or any of them happening soon. Key things to note:

   1. The NT made very clear that public engagement in the development process was very important. That is very good to hear.

   2. This project, in one form or another, will require considerable funding which has not yet been identified

   3. I think we should support this project, clearly. There may be aspects you don’t like but please support those aspects you do like, and do so publicly.

   4. Within the broader Catchment Area the ability to prevent flooding downstream in places like Witney is important, and this project has great potential in that regard. If we can safeguard in some way the Romano British settlement, the ecology of a wetland is a very positive thing, and here it won’t damage a Listed parkland.

      

      I know that Andrew would welcome any engagement on this. Try to make it positive.

2. Less positively there was a brief from the “new” Thames Water community engagement officer. For context, the Windrush Catchment Partnership has formally rejected offers of funding by Thames Water, considering it inappropriate because it is political “greenwashing” while they don’t spend enough capital investment on sewage treatment infrastructure. Thames Water representatives are of course still welcome at the Catchment Partnership meetings, and politely received. We don’t blame the representatives personally for corporate policies. Clearly their presence allows us to ask queries about ongoing projects on the Windrush, and frankly it is an opportunity for the partnership to feed dissatisfaction into Thames Water. However:

   1. The representative was poorly prepared. They spoke about projects that will not be completed until 2050, when there is an immediate problem to be solved locally and projects what were supposed to be finished in 2025 - that’s disappointing.

   2. They did not have answers to a number of questions, notably any detail on the current status of the Burton Sewage Treatment works - frankly the Catchment Partnership’s No 1 Concern.

   3. They made vague promises of funding for projects but with little detail, and to a group who have already rejected such offers. The impression I got was that the representative wasn't aware of this previous dialogue.

   4. Members of the partnership made them aware in no uncertain terms of the partnership’s position.

Going forward at future meetings I hope this representative will be better prepared and more realistic in their expectations. The previous rep was quite useful in an answering questions to me about the Sherborne Sewage Pumping Station.

3. From a Sherborne perspective I think we play a good role in the partnership, working alongside the NT, on the issue of road run off - an endemic problem across the catchment. I expressed support for the Cotswold FlyFishers release of grayling fry into the Sherborne Brook over the last few months and emphasised that we’d like to observe or support any future such efforts. I think there is an opportunity for the Sherborne team, working with others, to consider some other activities such as “leaky dam” creation, in certain places which extends and lowers the “pulse” of water in flood events. Watch this space. As a group we can monitor water levels and such like over time to get a better understanding of seasonal changes.
4. The Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust noted to us that there have been reported sighting of mink on the Brook. Keep your eyes peeled and let me know if you see any. Nasty alien creatures, which kill a lot indigenous wildlife.

That is all.