River Chess Association

James Cracknell & Richard Benyon MP receiving a lesson in fly monitoring from our chairman, Paul

It was a privilege to be asked to host a visit to the River Chess on 15th October by Richard Benyon MP, Rivers Minister, together with James Cracknell, celebrity ambassador for the DEFRA 'Love Your River' campaign. Partners of the campaign include the Environment Agency, National Trust, the Wildlife Trusts, Thames Water and others. Its aim is to highlight the link between river health and water use, so that people understand and value water and take action to improve their local rivers and the environment around them.

We are delighted that Richard Benyon has recognised the importance of our rivers and particularly the very special conservation and habitat issues uniquely associated with chalk streams such as our own River Chess.

Whilst we fully support Love Your River, we would like to emphasise the partnership aspects of the campaign. Local people and volunteer environmental groups will put in the work. However, we need the Minister to take action to substantially cut abstraction licences and introduce compulsory water metering as a matter of urgency. This is required to ensure a sustainable level of water in our aquifers and a healthy flow in our rivers.

We would also stress the importance of the many organisations that support us in our efforts and would like to especially single out the Chiltern Chalk Streams Project that provides practical help and advice with our work.

The future of our chalk streams is a stake.

In the meantime, we echo the call for everyone to treat water as a precious resource and to use it sparingly.

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