Our plan for the River Don Our Plan for the River Don 033 Welcome to the Don Network This is the first ever joint plan for the care and improvement of the River Don catchment The following organisations have participated in the production of this plan: Contents • Barnsley Metropolitan • Campaign to Protect • Phoenix and Parkgate • South Yorkshire 24. Yorkshire Water’s 4. Our commitment to the Don Borough Council Rural England Angling Club Forest Partnership commitment to the Don • Danvm Drainage • Canoe England • River Stewardship • University of Sheffield 6. Introduction – on the Commissioners • EcoFutures Ltd Company • Wildlife Trust 26. The role of the • Dearne Valley Green • Environment Agency • Rotherham Metropolitan for Sheffield and subject of rivers Heart Partnership • Five Weirs Walk Trust Borough Council Rotherham Environment Agency • Don Consultative • Forestry Commission • RSPB • Wild Trout Trust 8. A river fit for all Association • Kilnhurst and District • Sheffield Area • Woodland Trust 30. The pilot process • Don catchment Angling Alliance Geology Trust • Yorkshire Water 9. About the Don catchment Rivers Trust • Moors for the Future • Sheffield City Council • Yorkshire Wildlife Trust 34. WFD and the Don • Doncaster Metropolitan • National Farmers Union • Sheffield Partnership 13. A river made by people Borough Council • National Trust for Rivers in Town 37. Tables – opportunities, • Canal and Rivers Trust • Natural England Environments (SPRITE) 14. Our vision for the Don outcomes and actions This is their plan... 16. Opportunities and action 44. Contact details Our Plan for the River Don 055 Our Goole commitment to the Don Barnsley The document you are holding is the tangible product Doncaster of the Don Network. It represents a unique endeavour by a special group of enthusiastic and passionate people (photographs of this group working can be found throughout the plan). It is the first time ever that such a diverse body of interested organisations has come together to plot the pathway to a better Don catchment. Rotherham Sheffield • Through the Don Network new working relationships have been formed. • Organisations have discovered counterparts with a common interest. • Numerous advocates, each with their own ambitions for the Don, have found that in fact there is far more which unites than divides them. • The Don Network, supported by the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water, has put its energy and knowledge Chesterfield into producing this plan. This document now asks the question of others (perhaps you?) – what you will do to help make a better Don? Better for people. Better for wildlife. A better place to be. Our Plan for the River Don 077 Introduction On the subject of rivers “Moon River”. “Old Man River”. “River deep, As rivers can convey things we want, they can also carry poisons mountain high”. Why is it that people display and waste: from producer to receiver; from have to have not. Is it a such an emotional affinity for rivers? coincidence that the first laws of public health related to the dire state of our rivers? All the above is true of the River Don. Is it that the water which rivers bring is indispensable to all facets The River Don has done something we mortals cannot. It has come of human life? back from the dead; a death brought on by centuries of filth and neglect. Because of organisations and people who care, its waters are Or, is it that rivers seem alive and, like us, have a personality and cleaner today than they have been in living memory – though there mood? Their lives go through stages which mimic our own: from is much more to be done. In response, fish and birds are starting to energetic youth to lethargic old age. They experience times of plenty follow rivers back into the very heart of our cities but often their way and times of scarcity. They can be calm and nurturing or violent and is blocked by obstacles. And, most importantly, people are now seeking cruel. In times of drought they can bring famine and social upheaval. out the banks of their river as a good place to live and play. Today, human ingenuity cocoons us from most of the forces of The following pages describe an opportunity. An opportunity to nature. Our homes keep out the weather and our machines keep recognise the contribution a river can make to our communities and us comfortably warm or cool. our future; to realise the asset that our rivers can become. But when it comes to rivers we remain vulnerable to flooding or It is a chance to drought just like our ancestors. Technically advanced countries manage finish the job. their rivers to smooth out their wilder fluctuations and moods. But in even the mightiest of nations, rivers rise up from time to time as if to remind us of the omnipotent power of nature. Rivers can divide or unite. They can be a boundary for factions on opposing banks. They can connect communities and provide a transport corridor for vessels and ideas. The Don catchment covers an area of 1 . 3 m People live inside 700sq miles the Don catchment Our Plan for the River Don 099 A river Don fit for all catchment Some people might not realise it – but rivers are important to us all. A catchment is an area of land They are a source of water for homes, In England and Wales, the Environment Agency industry and farming. They provide water for is the body responsible for assessing how well in which water drains towards manufacturing and cooling. They are channels the UK is meeting the standards of the Directive. for drainage running off our streets and fields. The Environment Agency has divided the waters a certain river or stream. They are places to safely dispose of our treated of the Don catchment (the rivers, lakes, canals waste. Increasingly, rivers are seen as a potential and groundwater) into a number of geographical source of energy through hydropower. They are stretches or units called ‘waterbodies’. places of recreation and relaxation – rare havens 2 2 Only 7% of the waterbodies in the Don The catchment of the River Don is a big place. It covers almost 700 miles (1,700 square km ) and of calm in busy city centres. They are home to is more than 50 miles (80km) long. It is home to over 1.3 million people and is an area vital to the wild plants and creatures which enrich our lives. catchment currently meet the standards set by the Water Framework Directive, so there is lots national economy. Administratively it is covered by 13 local authorities; the main urban centres The people of the Don catchment have to be done. being Barnsley, Chesterfield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield. Although South Yorkshire is a key experienced times of flood and water shortage. part of the nation’s industrial heartland, just 18% of the catchment is urban. The catchment is one With a growing population and extremes Monitoring of the river has identified three main of contrast, from districts of heavy industry, to extensive arable lowlands and high heather moors. of weather, the quantity of water in the river issues that need to be addressed in the Don: Almost 40% of the Sheffield district is designated as a National Park. The catchment is criss-crossed system has become a topical issue. by strategically important road and rail routes and the Don Navigation links Sheffield with the sea. • Pollution from a single point source – Engineering of the river channel is perhaps the predominant feature of the Don – for urbanisation, “from the end of a pipe” water resources, canals and flood defence. The aim of the Water Framework Directive • Diffuse pollution – pollution seeping through is to protect, improve and promote the the land into the water environment or many sustainable use of water. small individual pipe discharges such as In this Plan the: drainage from roads The Don catchment That the water that flows through our rivers • Physical engineering modification of the should be clean and of good quality is something river channel such as culverts, weirs, ‘Don catchment’ or flood defences most people would relate to and value. However, means the land which drains to we now appreciate that our rivers shouldn’t just There’s more about the Water Framework the River Don, its main tributaries, Goole be chemically ‘clean’. They should support life. Directive and the Don catchment in the the Rother, Dearne and Ea beck, They should flow through a channel where the supplement towards the end of this plan. and the lakes, reservoirs canals physical processes of flowing water can take and groundwater. place. There should be places for floodwater to go without causing harm. Even in our cities and Barnsley towns they should be as natural as possible. My River Doncaster The story of the River Don is indivisible from the We now appreciate that we need to manage story of its people. Look at a map and you will our catchment differently so that we have see that every major town in the area has grown Rotherham enough water for our needs, reduce pollution up around a river. In the past, the rivers of the Sheffield and make sure there is space for floodwater to Helen Batt, River Don supported heavy industry and suffered go without causing harm. Stewardship Company greatly in return. The improvement in the quality of the water over recent decades is an The aim of the Water Framework Directive is to under-told success story. protect, improve and promote the sustainable use Chesterfield of water. If the River Don and its tributaries meet the needs of the Directive they will be ready to “We maintain this part of the Don in Sheffield city play their part in the community and be an asset centre, working with riverside businesses and to society and the economy.