1. Shedding light on solutions and
partnership working – what works?
Katherine Pygott
Associate Director, Arup
Expert forum event for practitioners
implementing the Water Framework Directive
17 January
The Mint Hotel Leeds
2. Presentation overview
River Aire – an example of an impacted
catchment
The past – the path to ‘heavily modified’ status
The present – renaissance through partnership
The future – opportunities
3. An example: The River Aire
catchment
Obstructions to fish passage
4. Water Framework Directive status
79 river water bodies in the catchment
60 (76%) are designated as heavily modified
5. Factors affecting the river
Early water mills
Land drainage
Canals and navigations
The growth of mining and industry
Urban expansion, water supply and sewerage
Flood defences
6. Improvement through partnership
• Catchment partners working together
• Aire Rivers Trust
• Bradford Beck WFD pilot catchment
• Aire Action Leeds
• Partnership working for flood risk management
• Wyke Beck Way and flood scheme
11. Rodley Weir
The fish by-pass
channel not only
allows fish and eel
passage but also
provides
additional
environment
benefits and
amenity value for
Nature Reserve
visitors
17. Improvement opportunities for the
River Aire
WFD river restoration programme – including Chapel Haddlesey
weir fish pass
Aire Action Leeds - river management partnership in Leeds for
better waterways
Fresh Aire - co-ordinated green infrastructure actions for people
and wildlife
Leeds and Skipton Flood Alleviation Schemes – partnership
working
West Yorkshire Strategic Rivers Programme delivering habitat
improvements
Yorkshire Water investment programmes and customer
awareness campaigns
18. Factors for success
Clear Terms of References and objectives ~ why are we working
together / what do we want to achieve / what are the roles of
different partners?
Time and commitment ~ continuity of staff is important
Political buy-in and support from senior staff in partner
organisations
Understanding roles / responsibilities / drivers & priorities /
limitations of partners
Interdependence ~ recognition that one partners can’t solve the
problem in isolation
Strong leadership
Trust, open dialogue and accountability
Editor's Notes
Will McBain, manage Arup’s national engineering and environmental framework with the Environment Agency.
Arup has been working with the fisheries team for 2 years now looking at fish passes on rivers in Riding s Area.
I’m not an expert in fish passes. Fishway Engineering subbies….
Brief overview of the history – ref to Chris Firths’ Book.
River stats
The River Aire has a catchment area of approximately 2,060 km², which is mainly rural in nature. It also contains the major urban areas of Bradford and Leeds, as well as smaller towns such as Skipton, Keighley, Bingley and Castleford.
The Aire joins with the River Ouse close to the upstream end of the Humber Estuary at Goole. This is approximately 100 km from its source in the Pennines and the river is relatively wide and deep over at these lower reaches.
The River Calder (the main tributary of the River Aire) rises on the Pennine Moors
west of Todmorden. It is predominately an urban river flowing through the West
Yorkshire conurbation towns of Halifax, Brighouse, Huddersfield, Dewsbury and
Wakefield, before joining the River Aire at Castleford some 87km from its source.
The River Don in South Yorkshire starts its life high on Dunford Moor in the Pennines,
485m above sea level, west of the market town of Penistone. It flows in a generally
eastern direction, migrating through the major cities of Sheffield, Rotherham and
Doncaster, before finally joining the tidal River Ouse at Goole, some 111km from its
source. Its major tributaries include the 41km River Rother, which starts at Claycross
in Derbyshire and joins the Don in Rotherham, and the 47km River Dearne, which
starts near the town Denby Dale and joins the Don in Mexborough.
Will McBain, manage Arup’s national engineering and environmental framework with the Environment Agency.
Arup has been working with the fisheries team for 2 years now looking at fish passes on rivers in Riding s Area.
I’m not an expert in fish passes. Fishway Engineering subbies….
Brief overview of the history – ref to Chris Firths’ Book.
