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At Jo Churchill MP’s request, Anglian Water invited a number of Lark stakeholder organisations including RLCP to spend a morning to brainstorm how future government policy might aid restoration of chalk streams such as the Lark over the next few years. Rebecca Pow MP, until recently the Environment Minister for rivers also attended. RLCP pitched in actively in the discussion and assisted in organisation, including Steph providing home-baked cakes for everyone. Jo Churchill sent a message to thank all the participants for their time and Sam Westwood from Anglian Water thanked Annie and her team from Fullers Mill Gardens for hosting us at very short notice.  Jo Churchill MP and Rebecca Pow MP at Fullers Mill Gardens Lark Flagship - major step forward At the event an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) was signed between Anglian Water and RLCP covering the two years of planning for implementing the Flagship project at the end of 2024. The Lark Flagship is one of 12 chalk streams identified as a national priority. At the Chalk Stream Flagship national launch last year, Rebecca Pow Environment Minister stated: “Chalk streams are both incredibly rare and a hugely important part of our environmental heritage” Tony Juniper Chair of Natural England added “These habitats are subject to a complex range of pressures, however, from pollution arising from road runoff, agriculture and sewage, to low flow resulting from abstraction for public water supply and physical damage to the water courses.” The Lark is one of the first Flagship projects to be fully underway. Planning work has already started with a “natural capital” study commissioned and completed.  Some of our RLCP Volunteers working at Flempton Bridge, February 2022 Our work parties restarted in January and it was wonderful for our volunteers to get back together again. Here are some of the things we have been doing in the last few months: Flempton Bridge We had to cancel the penultimate work party in February due to storm Eunice, but we managed to fit in three sessions in January and February. Our volunteers have achieved an amazing amount in a short space of time! We've installed log deflectors, created brash bundle shelving and started cutting a lot of instream willow branches. Thank you to everyone who braved the cold weather and gave such a lot of effort and enthusiasm. Tributaries Group As part of our pollution group, we launched our tributary water quality monitoring project in February with a training day held at Tuddenham Mill, which was delivered by Sam Hurst and Zac Battams from Norfolk Rivers Trust. You can see some pictures from our training day below.  The Tributaries Water Quality Testing Group at Tuddenham Stream  The RLCP would like to thank Cllrs Glossop, Hopfensperger, Harvey and Nobel for their generous support of the Tributaries Water Monitoring Project. They have each used some of their district and county council locality funding budget to enable us to buy testing equipment including a Lovibond MD 610 colorimeter and some reagents for us to test for things such as ammonia, suspended solids, phosphates, nitrates and nitrites. We would also like to thank the Environment Agency for some funding towards training to use the new equipment. Pollution Group visit to Fornham Water Recycling Centre A few members of the pollution group were treated (excuse the pun...) to a very informative and interesting tour of the sewage works at Fornham in February. It was truly eye opening to see how the process works and to meet the very dedicated team of managers who look after the whole region's waste water. We left feeling very enthusiastic about the positive relationship between us and Anglian Water and their commitment to tackle pollution in the River Lark. A huge thank you to managers Claire, Andy, Alan, Grant and our regular liaison, Sam Westwood for a very enjoyable afternoon.  |
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