The Assembly called for urgent ‘bottom up’ action to clean up our rivers and for communities to make local plans to restore the health of our rivers by 2027. Burgh Island was once more the iconic meeting place for a high-level summit focussing on “Clean Rivers – Clean Seas.” Co-owners of Burgh Island, Giles Fuchs and Niki Fuchs, sponsored the Island Assembly on the 13th March which brought together leaders from across Devon to focus on the practical and immediate actions which could be taken to reduce pollution from all sources. Speaker after speaker reinforced serious concerns that successive governments had failed to make the protection of the environment and rivers a priority. Kat Walter, solicitor for World Wildlife Fund, stated that the legally binding targets designed to protect our rivers and restore their health by 2027 would not be met. She feared that the Government would simply ‘move the target date’ as it is woefully behind the curve. Louise Wainwright, Chair of Avon River Champions and Bigbury Net Zero, was adamant that community groups would not move the goal posts and would continue to focus on immediate practical action to protect our local rivers by 2027. Organised jointly by Avon River Champions and Bigbury Net Zero, the assembly brought together 56 leaders from all sectors – parish, district and Devon County councillors, Caroline Voaden MP, environmental organisations, scientists, community groups, businesses and farmers. Invited delegates heard from inspirational and informed speakers who outlined the issues and proposed community-led solutions. Broadcaster and adventurer, Monty Halls, was the keynote speaker who set the tone and pace of the assembly by proclaiming that “Change for good can happen when a small group of committed people decide to act”. Guy Singh Watson, Founder of Riverford provided a sobering insight into the dire financial situations of many farmers -particularly in South Hams. He said that this compromised their ability to invest in capital infrastructure needed to reduce river pollution. We all need to pay more for our food, he said, so that farmers can simply earn a living. Most farmers want to prevent agricultural pollution of rivers but often they can’t afford to forward fund the capital costs of larger covered slurry pits and then reclaim only 40% of the costs from grants. The cash flow was simply not there. Supermarkets, he said, were better placed, making £billions profits, to make a greater contribution to the costs of environmentally sensitive farming. Guy’s views were reinforced by local farmer and Deputy Chair of Devon NFU, Cathy Case, who was disillusioned about the support for UK farmers by successive governments. The government had just closed applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme without consultation and without warning. She said that farmers needed to be able to plan financially over the long term. Harry Aubrey Fletcher, owner of Bantham Estate, reported back from the delegates on the Farmers’ ‘Table Summit’ that it should be a priority for local farmers to work with local volunteers and community organisations to install Nature-based Solutions to pollution. Opportunities to join up habitats along river catchments would also be an important priority. Cllr Dan Thomas (SHDC & DCC) championed the achievements of community groups, Yealm Estuary to Moor and Wild About The Erme River in local river restoration. He recommended that river catchments consider following their example and set up River Water Quality Groups to work with their local river community groups. One parish councillor from neighbouring parishes would join the RWQG to support the work of their river community group. They would encourage river-sensitive businesses, householder lifestyles and planning approvals for new developments. They would monitor pollution from all sources, in particular from South West Water sewage and waste water treatment works. Simon Browning, Technical Lead for the Rivers Trust, which produces the infamous Sewage Map, extolled the importance of a catchment-based approach and introduced the CaSTco programme. Gary Jolliffe, CEO of Force4Nature, described the extensive work that a team of 100 volunteers had undertaken in South Hams to install Nature-based Solutions to pollution, such as reedbeds, leaky dams and riverbank exclusion boundaries. BLUEprint Project The cherry on the cake at the Island Assembly, was when Louise Wainwright announced the breaking news from Avon River Champions, that the application to the Water Restoration Fund had been successful. The BLUEprint Project has been awarded £138,000. Funding for this 12-month programme came from the £2.1 million fine imposed on South West Water for pollution caused by inadequate capacity at their sewage treatment works in 2023. There was fierce competition for this relatively small pot of money from across the SWW region. The BLUEprint Project was developed collaboratively by Avon River Champions, SeaDream Education CIO, Friends of Salcombe Kingsbridge Estuary, Sustainable Blackawton, Force4Nature and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The funding will be used to design three catchment plans for the River Avon, River Gara & Slapton Ley and the Salcombe Kingsbridge Estuary. The design of the catchment plans will involve all stakeholders – farmers, businesses, parish and district councils, households, community groups and environmental organisations. The BLUEprint Project will culminate in a River Summit this autumn when farmers and other stakeholders will be invited to be partners in the follow up ‘Delivery Project’ which will fund the capital costs of implementing the agreed interventions included in the BLUEprint Project. The ambitious aim is to agree a co-designed plan to restore the health of our local rivers and estuaries to ‘Good Ecological Status’ by 2027. If the first phase (BluePrint Project) is successful, we will be in a strong position to bid for follow on funding from the Water Restoration Fund for the Delivery Project – from £500,000 to £2 million. Nick Bruce-White, CEO of Devon Wildlife Trust gave the closing remarks, reinforcing the importance of immediate collective action and strong support for local farmers wanting to play a full part in river restoration.