An open letter to everyone who cares about chalk streams:

Dear friends,

I’m writing to you to ask a favour. A few days ago I received an email out of the blue from a lady called Sophia Holloway. I don’t know Sophie but she tells me that she was so angered by the government’s decision (reported and commented on in The Times over Christmas – links below) to drop the Defra chalk recovery strategy work that she has started a petition. 

This is so heartening and is so very kind of her.

But the petition will go nowhere without support from everyone who cares. If there’s not enough support, I fear the government may double down on their timid and unpopular decision not to publish the now oven-ready chalk stream recovery pack and even their other chalk stream work.

We need people to hear about Sophia’s petition. So, please will you:

• sign the petition
• give the petition a plug, even repeated plugs, in your social media platforms and share in any other way you can.

Let’s see if we can do justice to Sophia’s anger and good faith?

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/711368

There’s an album of chalk stream images at the foot of this page: of beautiful chalk streams to show why we should look after them and of knackered streams to show what we need to protect them from. Anyone is welcome to grab and use them for social media posts (an attribution to chalk streams.org would be appreciated and may even spread the word)

•••

A bit of background in case it is needed …

A few years ago I was invited to chair and oversee the creation of a national strategy for protecting and restoring chalk streams. Countless passionate people and all the key players, the regulators, industry and eNGOs worked together to create a collaborative national restoration plan that will – if the actions are followed on – make a considerable difference to chalk stream protection and health.

It is a simple strategy for addressing – in practical and pragmatic ways – abstraction, water pollution and habitat restoration. Under the last government we even got to the point where the then Minister Rebecca Pow promised a Defra policy document in support called the Defra Chalk Stream Recovery Pack. I know what was in that document because I negotiated with Defra over its contents and wrote it for and with them.

But foot-dragging over certain key issues delayed publication and then, when the election came along, the plan was put on hold. Now the new government has shelved it, or in fact – apparently – abandoned it. See The Times pieces below:

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/environment/article/labour-shelves-rescue-plan-for-globally-rare-chalk-streams-58537f56k

https://www.thetimes.com/comment/the-times-view/article/the-times-view-saving-chalk-streams-6mzjrhk8x

This is no way to deliver environmental improvement. No matter one’s politics it is obvious that we will only resolve the issues that impact our rivers if the government of the day rises above party politics and builds continuity into our approach to protecting and restoring the environment.

I really hope you can support Sophia’s initiative. Thank you so much.

With very best wishes as ever,

Charles.