Tom Beeston, Chiltern Society CO, has issued an open letter to DEFRA and the EA about the decision to resume abstraction from Alma Road in Chesham.
Embargoed until 7am Wednesday 16th October, 2024.
Open letter to Steve Read (DEFRA Minister) and Philip Duffy (CEO Environment Agency).
You may or may not have seen internal correspondence and press coverage led by the local River Chess Association (RCA) on the dictate by the Environment Agency (EA) to recommence pumping in Alma Road Chesham, which could effectively drain the Chess.
Over the last 4-5 years Chalk Streams First, an initiative which emphasises the protection of flows in the upper reaches of chalk streams, has been supported by all parties, including Government. By reducing the abstraction of groundwater in upper chalk stream catchments, healthy, clean flows along the entire stream are maintained, recovering these unique flow-dependent habitats and delivering water for abstraction and storage in less sensitive downstream areas.
The closure of the Alma Road pumping station in central Chesham in July 2020 was celebrated in national newspapers, supported by Government, conservation groups and Affinity Water. It is one of the reasons the flow and wildlife in the River Chess have improved. We now see water voles, otters, brown trout, water crowfoot (floating plant with white flowers) in parts of the Chess where they have not been for many years.
We are obviously concerned about flooding in Chesham, many of us live there. However, all except for the EA, agree flooding is caused by other issues such as road runoff, poor drainage and blockages within the river such as debris, culverts and old structures.
All of the nationally recognised experts we have consulted, including Wild Fish, RCA, Chilterns National Landscape Team, Charles Rangeley Wilson (CaBA), Project Ground Water (EA Funded) and our local expert geologists agree abstraction from the aquifer at this point is highly unlikely to significantly affect flooding, but is highly likely to affect the flow in the river, draining the river and destroying important wildlife.
The EA have been making these plans without consultation for over a year, most likely two. This is despite their attendance at numerous stakeholder meetings and signing up to many partnership initiatives not least:
- Project Groundwater hosted by Buckinghamshire Council, and funded by the EA
- The Chalk Streams First initiative led by Charles Rangeley-Wilson
- The Chilterns Chalk Stream Project, hosted by the Chilterns National Landscape Team, the Government’s independent body responsible for conserving the Chilterns. The project, along with the local River Chess Association, hosts the groundbreaking 10-year Chess Smarter Catchment Pilot.
The EA have not discussed this in any of those or other forums at any point over the last 1-2 years. And yet there has been no admission as to who was responsible for stakeholder engagement or a written apology for excluding key partners from the process.
You will no doubt hear much in defence of the decision to resume abstraction; some of it will sound plausible. Unfortunately, it has not passed any peer review locally or nationally, and we can only assume it was a decision made internally. A decision despite that, best advice, appears the EA cannot backtrack on. It can only be described as bureaucratic madness; the EA’s directions will drain the Chess and further destroy nature.
What will happen next?
For reputational purposes and the sake of nature we will be asking local partners to consider:
- Informing the Environment Agency that they are not welcome in meetings
- Suspending their voting rights on the steering groups of projects
- Commencing an awareness raising campaign to flag the Environment Agency’s lack of good practice and use of expert knowledge, resulting in the continued poor health of chalk streams. A Chesham protest walk is being planned under the banner: Stop the Drain, to further highlight the EA’s dictate. All are welcome to join us. Details will be available shortly on our website.
I’m afraid this situation has led me to believe the Environment Agency is not fit for purpose: not only because of insufficient funding, but also because of the apparent arrogance and ignorance of senior decision-making.
I urge you to call for this decision to be reversed with immediate effect. If not, please visit us in the River Chess catchment to explain why this EA debacle has occurred and what assurances you can give stakeholders that the EA will not drain the River Chess through increased abstraction at the head of the river, against all good advice.
Kind regards
Tom Beeston
Chief Officer at the Chiltern Society
