Cam Valley Forum news updates

Following on from last week’s World Rivers Day news item, Dr Alan Woods, Hon Secretary of Cam Valley Forum has sent an update on progress. He says:

“We reinforced our Manifesto (of August 2019) with a detailed report – Let it Flow! – back in May this year – see https://camvalleyforum.uk/water/ and the report itself at https://camvalleyforum.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Cam_Valley_Forum_Let_it_Flow_Full_report_26-05-20-compressed.pdf.

This has raised the profile of our campaigning and we have won the support of local MPs and built links with other organisations (Angling Trust, Salmon & Trout Conservation, Wildlife & Countryside Link, RSPB, etc) as well as with Ministers (Rebecca Pow MP), the regulators (OFWAT, Environment Agency), Cambridge Water and Affinity Water and, critically, Water Resources East, which is leading vital work to assess how best to secure sustainable water resource management in East Anglia through to 2100.

We are seeking to transform the way in which water is taken from the Cam Valley – replacing abstraction from the aquifer, so that Chalk streams can once again run freely, with abstraction of surface water from the river downstream instead. If we succeed, this will be perhaps the biggest change for the environmental benefit of the Cam Valley in the last 120 years.

Anthony Browne MP’s recent letter at https://camvalleyforum.uk/letter-to-minister/, which includes specific proposals for Government action to work towards our goals, has met with a positive response and we are now actively building on this.”

Read the latest CVF newsletter here: CVF 61