CVF respond to DEFRA consultation

Cam Valley Forum calls for support for river flows and habitats under Environmental Land Management schemes

The Forum’s response to the recent Defra policy discussion paper on future support for Environmental Land Management (ELM) calls for:

  • DEFRA to work with local people and local river groups to inform and help achieve national objectives
  • A ‘managed aquifer recharge’ option to be added to the menu of land management options for farmers.
  • Much greater support for ELM investments on riverine margins – ‘Riverscape Opportunity Areas’ as we’ve termed them. In intensively managed landscapes such as the Cam Valley, river corridors offer perhaps the best opportunity to reinstate extensive contiguous areas of improved habitat, while also protecting and enhancing Chalk streams.
  • ELM agreements to support ‘nature-based’ options to manage flood risk.
  • Plenty of expert advice, local tailoring of objectives and actions, valuing environmental services effectively.

The full CVF response can be downloaded here.

Letter to minister

We are delighted that Anthony Browne MP for South Cambridge is joining us in calling on Defra to establish a ‘Chalk Streams Task Force’ to develop a Strategy to restore natural flows to Chalk streams.  We have worked with Water Resources East to draw up an eight-point plan to kick-start the Task Force’s work.  We are working to build a strong coalition of support for this initiative, which recognises that national policy on managing our water resources has to change.

You can download Mr Browne’s letter to the DEFRA Minister, Rebecca Pow, and our initial plan below