M 1 2 THE RIVER CLWYD CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN ACTION PLAN: 19 95 WELSH REGION LIBRARY COPY NRA National Rivers Authority Welsh Region CONTACTING THE NRA The national head office of the NRA is in Bristol Enquiries about the Clwyd Catchment Management Plan should be directed to: Telephone: 01454 - 624400 Kelvin Graham, From 01/01/96 The Welsh Region head office is in Cardiff Area Catchment Planner, Plot 10, Telephone: 01222 - 770088 Highfield, Parc Menai, The Area Manager for the Northern Area of the Welsh Priestley Road, Vaynol Business Park, R egion is: Caernarfon, Bangor, Gwynedd, Gwynedd. Steve Brown, From 01/01/96 LL55 1HR Bryn Menai, Plot 10, Holyhead Road, Parc Menai, Bangor, Vaynol Business Park, Gwynedd. Bangor, LL57 2EF Gwynedd. NRA Copyright Waiver. This report is intended to be used widely and may be quoted, copied or reproduced in any way, provided that the extracts are not quoted out of context and due acknowledgement is given to the National Rivers Authority. Acknowledgement:- Maps are based on the 1992 Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 scale map with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s stationary Office © Copyright. WE 12 95 1.5k E AQMY Awarded for excellence 111 CLWYD CATCHMENT AREA N A 10 km j ______ I CATCHMENT STATISTICS Area........................................ ....900km2 Population.............................. .....>146,000 Area at flood risk.................... ... 5000Ha Average rainfall...................... ... 960mm KEY Average river flow.................. .... 11.1m3/s CATCHMENT BOUNDARY River quality........................... .... 111.5km Very Good 31.5km Good MAIN CENTRES OF POPULATION 0.4km Fair 'A ' CLASS ROAD Estuary quality........................ .....7.2km Good B* CLASS ROAD Designated fisheries.............. .... Salmonid: 99.5km RAILWAY LINE (78/659/EEC) Cyprinid: None COUNCIL BOUNDARY ABERCONWY BOROUGH COUNCIL Designated bathing waters.... .... North Shore at (76/160/EEC) Llandudno COLWYN BOROUGH COUNCIL Colwyn Bay DELYN BOROUGH COUNCIL Kinmel Bay Rhyl GLYNDWR DISTRICT COUNCIL Prestatyn RHUDDLAN BOROUGH COUNCIL ENVIRONMENT AGENCY 10337 9 THE NRA'S VISION FOR THE CLWYD CATCHMENT The Clwyd Catchment Management Plan covers an acidification issues in upland waters will area more immediately known for the coastal need to be addressed in conjunction with attractions of towns such as Llandudno, Colwyn Bay, the forestry organisations. Rhyl and Prestatyn, than for the river valley itself. • Fisheries and Recreation - The generally But behind this important coastline lies a landscape experienced decline in salmon and sewin of great beauty and high conservation interest and fisheries could be partly ameliorated agricultural importance. through overcoming barriers to migration Away from the coastal belt the area is sparsely within the river system. There is also a populated, with the only sizeable population centres need to make the area more accessible for being the towns of Ruthin and Denbigh. Water those interested in more passive pursuits quality is generally very good, reflected by the use of such as walking. surface and groundwater abstractions for drinking Implementation of this Action Plan will ensure that water supplies, and the important salmonid fisheries. the problems we have identified are addressed. The However, there are issues that must be addressed if NRA's vision w ill be achieved through a balanced the potential of the area contained within the plan is management approach to all activities. We will to be realised: encourage imaginative proposals to allow sustainable • Water Resources - Surface and groundwater economic and community development to proceed resources are finely balanced and only careful whilst ensuring protection and improvement of the water environment. We will collaborate actively with management will ensure that groundwaters are all users of the catchment and all those statutory bodies not depleted in the future. that can assist us in striving to achieve this vision. • Water Quality - Bathing and coastal water quality, important to the tourist industry, requires improvement through construction of new sewage treatment and disposal schemes. Pollution prevention activity is essential to S. J . BROWN reduce the number of agricultural and other NORTHERN AREA MANAGER - incidents affecting freshwaters. Some of the NRA WELSH REGION A s i a n t a e t h y r A m g y l c h e d d C y m r u E n v i r o n m e n t A g e n c y W a l e s GWASANAETH LLYFRGELL A GWYBODAETH CENEDLAETHOL NATIONAL LIBRARY & INFORMATION SERVICE PRIF SWYDDFA/MAIN OFFICE Ty Cambria/Cambria House 29 Heol Casnewydd/29 Newport Road Caerdydd/Cardiff CF24 OTP C— M » r RhvUUn Cas,k ENVIRONMENT AGENCY WELSH REGION CATALOGUE ACCESSION CODE ACC.1 CLASS NO. N £ 4 IA ja h S r z CONTENTS AREA MANAGER’S VISION FOR THE CATCHMENT 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 2.0 REVIEW OF THE CONSULTATION PROCESS 3 3.0 OVERVIEW OF THE CATCHMENT 3 4.0 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAND USE AND THE WATER ENVIRONMENT 6 5.0 ISSUES ACTIONS 7 7.0 FUTURE REVIEW AND MONITORING 17 INTRODUCTION THE CONCEPT OF CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT We have chosen to use Catchment Management Plans PLANNING (CMPs) to translate those principles into action. The CMPs describe our vision for each catchment, identify The rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters of problems and issues and propose actions that may be England and Wales are subject to large and rapidly taken to resolve them. increasing demands from the users of water. Many different uses interact or compete for water and will To ensure the we 'get it right', the process of inevitably come into conflict with one another. The developing CMPs is divided into two phases: National Rivers Authority aims to protect and improve (i) Consultation Report the water environment in England and Wales and to (ii) Action Plan harmonise conflicts between competing water users. Our Mission Statement expresses the following The emphasis is clearly on participation through principles: consultation. This process has already occurred for the Clwyd catchment and has led to the development of We will protect and improve the water this Action Plan. In this Plan, actions are clearly environment by the effective management of ascribed to responsible parties who/which have agreed water resources and by substantial reductions in to their implementation within a specified timescale. pollution. We will aim to provide effective This involves a commitment to considerable defence for people and property against flooding expenditure in some cases. from rivers and the sea. In discharging our duties we will operate openly and balance the interests CMPs also provide the means of promoting two key of all who benefit from and use rivers, aspects of environmental management:- groundwaters, estuaries and coastal waters. We • -land use planning will be businesslike, efficient and caring towards • water quality objectives our employees. For purely operational reasons those actions identified Development Plans". for the Dulas and Ganol East catchments, whilst This CMP Action Plan sets out issues and actions ' covered here for continuity with the Consultation specific to the Clwyd catchment which have been Report, will be incorporated into the Conwy Action determined within the framework of these Guidance Plan at its first annual review. Notes. Section 4 outlines how the concerns of the RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAND USE PLANNING water environment should influence the location and AND CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT PLANNING nature of development and land use change within the catchment. The broad objective of catchment management planning is to conserve and enhance the total river WATER QUALITY OBJECTIVES environment through effective land and resource The Statutory Water Quality Objectives (SWQOs) management. However, whilst the NRA is well scheme, introduced under the Water Resources Act placed to influence some of the factors affecting the 1991, is a new system for water quality planning water environment, particularly in relation to the which, when fully implemented, will place quality river corridor itself, we have very little control over targets on a statutory footing. The scheme is based the mechanisms which determine land use change on upon the recognised uses to which river stretches a catchment-wide basis. This is to some degree the may be put, acknowledging that there is cost responsibility of local planning authorities through involved in meeting the quality targets necessary to the implementation of the Town and Country support these uses. It is envisaged that the scheme Planning Acts, whilst agriculture, as a major land will cover five uses including River Ecosystem, use in the catchment, can introduce significant Special Ecosystem, Abstraction for Potable Supply, changes. Agricultural/Industrial Abstraction and Water The policies in statutory development plans are Sports. (See River Quality. The Government's Proposals important in this regard, in that they set out the (December 1992)). framework for land use change and provide the key At present only the standards for the River reference in determining development applications Ecosystem Use have been developed on a formal basis The NRA encourages the inclusion of policies which and, as a result, this is the first WQO Use to be reflect its concerns and responsibilities. As guidance introduced by the Government through The Surface for local authorities, the NRA has prepared a set of Waters (River Ecosystem) (Classification) Regulations statements relating to water quality and water 1994. This replaces